The Executive Director of the Nuclear Power Ghana, Dr Stephen Yamoah, says four sites have been identified for the first plant.
Though he did not give the exact location of these sites, he noted seismological installation, geological, geochemical, potential human-induced events, grid issues among others were already underway.
Dr Yamoah disclosed this at a workshop for media professionals on Ghana’s steps into the nuclear future.
He explained under the first phase of the programme, technical consideration for the establishment of a Nuclear Power Programme in Ghana had been completed.
He said the country’s nuclear programme is necessitated by the need for alternate baseload power for industrialisation, limited hydro sources, postulated decline of gas, and tariff reduction for industries, desalination, employment creation, and climate change commitments.
The second phase, he detailed included the selection process, project structure and integrated management system, selection of vendor or strategic partners and community engagement and stakeholder management.
Dr Yamoah added some policies, strategies, and detailed planning were being put in place for implementation and project development while considering technical inputs in identifying the particular site for the nuclear power plant.
“We’re on course to complete the second phase of the site selection activities next year which ends with the identification of the nuclear plant site by the end of next year.
“Attention would be given to the site and detailed and further investigation conducted to be incorporated into the design of the power plant,” he detailed.
He disclosed in June 2021, with the support of the Ministry of Energy, Ghana he issued a request to solicit information on both technical and financial information from vendors and strategic partners who would provide modular reactors for building the nuclear plant.
The Executive Director said five out of six vendor countries have expressed interest to provide large reactors to supply between 700 to 1,200 megawatts of energy, and nine Small Modular Reactors to provide between 300 megawatts and below of energy for the nuclear plant.
He said NPA was expected to submit recommendations of the Request for Information to the Government and awaits its declaration of the country’s decision to go nuclear after which a discussion for a contract would be initiated.
The Vice President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Linda Asante Adjei, speaking at the workshop, said although the country was often lauded as a model for African democracy, not much had been achieved in the area of energy.
To achieve this, she said, the country needed a strong political will and involvement of all stakeholders that require the vital role of the media and journalists in that regard.
She stressed while the energy sector continued to evolve and shift from conventional sources of energy to cleaner sustainable resources such as wind, solar and biomass waste, societal awareness on product availability and diversified uses remained a knowledge gap.
She pledged GJA’s partnership with Nuclear Power Ghana to educate and provide information to the general public.