Nigeria to build nuclear plants

2006-11-23 10:51

Abuja - Nigeria plans to build nuclear power plants to meet a major part of the West African country's electricity demand by 2015, says a government minister.

Information minister Frank Nweke said a meeting of the cabinet chaired by President Olusegun Obasanjo set a target for the country to generate 40 000 megawatts of electricity within the next decade, with a significant part coming from nuclear energy.

Nweke said: "To achieve this objective ... we must exploit other sources, particularly nuclear power as a major component, not just an option."

Nigeria ran two nuclear research centres, one in the northern town of Zaria and another outside the capital, Abuja, set up under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear regulatory body. It had no nuclear power plant.

Nigeria was Africa's leading oil and gas producer and the world's eight-biggest oil exporter, but remained a low electricity generator and consumer.

The country ran on less than half of national capacity of 6 000 megawatts of electricity, with power cuts frequent and the electricity infrastructure ran down by years of corruption and mismanagement.

Nweke said Nigeria couldn't rely on its natural gas, coal and hydroelectric resources alone to meet its energy requirements and wanted nuclear power to supplement them.

Nweke said Nigeria had no ambition to acquire nuclear weapons and would comply with all international requirements for safe use of nuclear energy.

- AP