IAEA gives Nigeria thumbs up
2005-01-20 23:32
Kano - International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohammed ElBaradei has inspected Nigeria's first nuclear reactor and given it a clean bill of health, the head of the facility said on Thursday.
Ibrahim Umar, director of the nuclear research project at Amadu Bello Univerity in Zaria, said following ElBaradei's visit on Wednesday that the UN agency had co-operated in the development in the test reactor and was content it met international safety standards.
"The IAEA, being the UN organ responsible for monitoring the application of nuclear technology throughout the world, has a mandate to conduct inspections on any nuclear facility," Umar told AFP in a telephone interview.
"Since the nuclear research centre was commissioned with technical co-operation from IAEA, the visit is to see how we are utilising the facility which is exclusively for peaceful application purposes," he said.
Nigeria's reactor was commissioned in September last year by the science and technology ministry and the country's energy commission.
It is run by Amadu Bello University's centre for energy research in the northern city of Zaria.
Umar said the reactor was to be used for research into solid minerals and petroleum prospecting, soil mapping to boost agricultural production, medical research and water resource development and management.
"ElBaradei was happy with what he saw because the facility is working fine and our well-trained staff is using it well, according to IAEA specifications," Umar said.
"He approved nine technical co-operation projects for the centre for the next two years," he added.
Before travelling to Zaria, ElBaradei had met with Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, who assured him that Nigeria had no intention of developing atomic weapons, but would use nuclear technology for agricultural development.