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The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ghana Nuclear Power Program Organization and Ghana Nuclear Power in Accra on Tuesday.
The collaboration will create a platform for the Ghanaian media to advocate for public information and ownership of Ghana’s efforts in energy security, industrial development and sustainability.
GJA President Mr. Affail Monney said the Association was excited about the historic partnership and was confident that the hope expressed by nuclear scientists and energy experts who had led the country’s efforts to revive the long-term vision data to use nuclear technology for power generation would be a success.
He said that as committed and objective professionals, “we exercise power in the minds, hearts and activities of our people,” and promised to provide a holistic framework for media relations and information management in support of the implementation of the Ghana Nuclear Power Program (NPP) and Project, and also guiding Ghanaians to make excellent and informed energy decisions for domestic and industrial development.
We believe that these efforts would accelerate our industrial and economic growth and make Ghana the “power center” of the subregion.
He said that as the world struggled with the Covid-19 pandemic and its related problems, relentless efforts to escape energy shortages and reduce greenhouse gas emissions as climate change affected natural and human systems were some of the challenges that couldn’t be ignored.
Monney said that the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, as well as the responsibility to do so safely, make the issue of nuclear energy inescapable, adding that environmental demands and the need for energy security remain in tension. .
As a professional body, GJA was committed to promoting clean and sustainable technologies and efforts that would help the nation overcome the many difficulties that stand between now and a future with global energy security, he said.
He promised the GJA’s commitment to the good dissemination of public information and discourse to promote ideas, scientific and engineering technologies, social and economic efforts that offset energy poverty and expired unsustained energy security activities.
The Director General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), Professor Benjamin Jabez Nyarko, provided a brief historical overview of the country’s Nuclear Reactor Program, dating back to 1963, to the current decision to move towards the adoption of a nuclear power combination. for power generation, for further industrialization.
He said that although the journey had been long, there had been great success, with Ghana achieving a solid foundation with the 19 infrastructure requirements to establish a nuclear power plant, adding that after completing Phase One, a full Report had been produced. of the program. submitted to Cabinet, to assist the Government in making an informed decision on the PNP.
Professor Nyarko, however, said that although capital intensive, nuclear power was the most profitable, saying that the cost of power could be reduced by five percent per kilowatt and was safe and environmentally friendly in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, reliable, sustainable and more resistant to external shocks.
He urged the media to be open-minded without polarization, to encourage suppliers to come together for a smooth take-off of the Ghana nuclear power plant operation.
He said that so far four candidate sites for the construction of the nuclear power plant had been identified and a supplier had been identified, but that the decision would be made by the government.
Nuclear Power Ghana Executive Director Dr. Stephen Yamoah commended GJA for the commitment shown and hoped the collaboration would yield the results of seeing Ghana achieve success in its nuclear ambition.
The Director General of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Dr. Nii Kwashie Allotey, assured Ghanaians about the safety, security and protection of the Ghana nuclear power plant, and said that the development of the necessary skills of local experts had been been developing for the past four years. years in addition to the classification of operating licenses and other regulations to guide its operation.
The Deputy Director of Renewable and Nuclear Energy at the Ministry of Energy, Robert Sogbadji, admitted that collaborating with the media would improve public advocacy and education, eroding all forms of misinformation about the operation of a nuclear power plant and securing ownership local.
He pledged the full support of the Ministry to the GNPPO to achieve Ghana’s vision of becoming a net exporter of energy and industrialization.
