Nigeria is to build four nuclear power plants of 1,000 megawatts each, for electricity generation.
The process is at the bidding stage.
Dr Yau Idris, Director-General, Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, NNRA, said this at the Nigerian International Energy Summit in Abuja, on 1 March, 2022: “Nigeria is trying to deliver 4,000mw of electricity through nuclear power. We are trying to construct four units and we are at the bidding stage.”
The Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, NAEC, operator of the project, feels that the adoption of nuclear power will diversify the energy mix and guarantee energy security in the country.
The plan is that Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom, will build the first, expected to be ready by 2025. The other three will be ready by 2035.
In October, 2010, NAEC under Professor Erepamo Osaisai as Director-General, selected four candidate sites for the construction of nuclear power plants. In June 2015, NAEC picked two, out of the four, candidate sites: One is in Geregu, Kogi State, north-central Nigeria and the other in Itu, Akwa Ibom State, south-south Nigeria.
The other two sites are: Agbaje, Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State in the southwest zone and Lau, Taraba State, in northeast zone.
That is how far NAEC has gone on Siting and studies are still ongoing on the suitability of the two candidate sites after which one of them will be selected for the first nuclear electricity plant in Nigeria.
There are five stages in a nuclear power plant programme starting from Siting, Design and Construction, Commissioning and De-commissioning.
Nigeria is at the Siting stage and has not crossed that milestone.
Investigations by Science World reveal that by 3 March, 2022 NAEC, the operator of the nuclear programme in Nigeria, has not applied to NNRA, Nigeria’s nuclear regulator, for a licence for siting a nuclear power plant and NNRA has not approved any such site in Nigeria.
There are 19 criteria under the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, for Site approval. These range from availability of a natural body of water in the site in the last 50 years, low human population density in the surrounding areas, seismic characteristics, topography, wind direction etc.
Dr Yau Idris may be right when he said that NNRA has entered into capacity-building agreements with Russia, Pakistan, France and South Korea to enable its staff licence the nuclear plants.
However, it will not be correct to say, by 1 March, 2022, that the process is at the bidding stage. This is the stage where an interested company with the requisite capability can bid for the design/construction contract.
Some news media quoting Dr Yau Idris reported: “FG Opens bids for nuclear power” (Vanguard newspaper, 1/3/2022); “Nigeria opens bidding for 4GW nuclear plant” (Global Construction Review, 3/3/2022); “Nigeria invites bids as it prepares to construct its first nuclear power plant, amid security concerns” (Africa Business Insider, 2/3/2022).
The bidding process in Nigeria, under President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign, is transparent and governed by many rules. One of them is that it must be published widely to inform and give all intending bidders a fair chance.
NAEC, the operator of the project, never placed any advertisement for bids and in this certitude, do not intend to, soon.
Another point is that about 10% to a maximum of 25% of national grid capacity is never exceeded in a nuclear programme because nuclear electricity must be transmitted, distributed and utilised once produced.
Nigeria’s national grid cannot take up to 10,000mw and therefore cannot accommodate 4,000mw from four nuclear power plants. Nigeria generates between 4,000mw to 5,000mw of electricity.
One cannot invite or open bidding for building a nuclear power plant without, first of all, crossing the Siting milestone.
Such statements on the stage of the nuclear power plant project in Nigeria, industry watchers say, should correctly, come from NAEC, the operator, instead of Dr Yau Idris of NNRA.
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