Word is that Geothermal Development Company is to be launched later on this month to spearhead the geothermal power quest. I hope this will not turn out to be a mirage or white elephant.

As mentioned by Daniel Graversen, it is an expensive undertaking but raising funds should not be a problem based on the appetite for recent Rights Issues as well as Bond Issues. Such projects will also attract attractively priced government to government funding, Development Funds as well as larger investment organisations.

1. Not all nuclear reactors use fresh water for cooling in their operations. If you read my article you will see several types of nuclear reactors using different technologies to generate electricity. Sea water which is quite plentiful can also be used.
2. On security Kenya has a number of military barracks and other national security locations including the HQ of the NSIS. I have never in our history heard of a succesful raid or breach on this facilities. We could place the nuclear power plant under the protection of the military and further we have some British & American marines stationed in Kenya. We could ask them to provide further backup if needed though it wouldn’t be necessary.
3. Expertise. Many national facilities in Kenya have been built and operated with expatriate help. The geothermal power stations are very complex to build and Kenya sometimes makes use of expatriates to build them. Lack of expertise is not an impediment. We have asked the French to help put up a plant so it ca be done. Kenya has KQ our national airline which is doing very well though we don’t build aeroplanes. In any case the country does have a nuclear science academy in the University of Nairobi and the IAEA has offered to train our people to handle nuclear power.
4. Radioactive waste. This is perhaps the trickiest point but it too is addressed in my article. France which produces 78% of its electricity from nuclear does have solutions for the reprocessing of nuclear fuel rods. We could sign an agreement whereby they would take back the spent fuel rods for reprocessing. The Russian nuclear reactor deal has a similar proposal.

Additional points. The power blackout experienced yesterday was primarily a transmission fault not a generation fault. In any case passive nuclear reactors are very safe and are designed to switch off automatically without the need for human intervention. On the question that it takes too long to build a nuclear plant I ask how long does it take to build a hydropower dam? Indeed the Sondu Miriu project has taken yrs to construct and so did the Turkwell Gorge and every other hydropower dam. The length of time taken to construct is not the issue since we are planning for the future. Even oil drilling, geothermal plants and windfarms take considerable time to build. Finally on cost nuclear power is just as capital intensive as any other large-scale energy project. The windfarm currently being built in Loyangalani which I have covered on my blog is a US$ 700million project. We could build a nuclear plant for that amount.

To argue passionately for nuclear power does not equal to being extremist. Indeed it is possible to be extremist in the opposition to nuclear as well. I have instead argued for an energy mix that is reliable, green and liberates us from having to import oil with all the negatives that brings. In my blog I have highlighted other forms of energy wind, solar, geothermal & hydropower. I realise many are prejudiced against nuclear due to political, technological, economic or ignorance but I respect their right to hold those opinions. As Kenyans try to object to this power source it is important to note all the major powers of the world right now use nuclear energy to supplement their energy needs and it is a growing industry and the technology is getting better everyday.

In Denmark we also had a power outage in 2002 for half the country, for a up to 6 hours. But I cannot recal other national outages since. Just locals.