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Pro-life and environmental groups in Nigeria have expressed dismay at the construction of a nuclear power plant in Akwa Ibom state saying that the construction of the Itu Nuclear Power Plant in Akwa Ibom by Russians represents a potential threat in the magnitude of a possible nuclear holocaust.
In a statement
signed by Dr. Philip Njemanze, M.D., Chairman, Council on World
Peace and Chairman of Global Prolife Alliance, the group noted that the recent
nuclear accident in Russia and the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion are
valid reminders of the dangers of nuclear explosions.
According to Njemanze, World Health Organization (WHO)
estimates that over 600,000 people in close vicinity suffered severe radiation
induced cancer and Leukemia in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear
explosion. Experts taking clues from the Chernobyl nuclear explosion experience
and given the dense vegetation, vast network of rivers and intense rainfall in
Southern Nigeria, put the estimate of people to be severely affected across
Africa at 25 million people.
Taking from the
experience of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion, Njemanze projected that in the event of Itu Nuclear Power Plant explosion, the
entire ecosystem of West and Central Africa will be affected, with spill over
to North and East Africa along to Nile flow regions into the Nile Delta and to
the Mediterranean across Europe, if anything goes wrong.
“The entire oil-fields of Nigeria the main source of national revenue would not be accessible by humans under normal conditions. The entire ethnic groups and tribes of South-South, South East and parts of South West Nigeria could be wiped out”, he stressed.
“The entire
oil-fields of Nigeria the main source of national revenue would not be
accessible by humans under normal conditions. The entire ethnic groups and
tribes of South-South, South East and parts of South West Nigeria could be
wiped out”, he stressed.
Njemanze, a neurosurgeon and scientist noted
also: “We have for long argued that the proposed Nuclear Plant project is the
most expensive in the world ever. At thirty billion US dollars ($20 billion USD),
it costs more than 20 times the cost of building alternative energy sources of
Solar and Hydropower. The recent Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis by Lazard, a
leading financial advisory and asset management firm suggests that the cost per
kilowatt (KW) for utility-scale solar is less than $1000, while the comparable
cost per KW for nuclear power is between $6,500 and $12,250. This means that
nuclear power is nearly 10 times more expensive to build than utility-scale
solar on cost per KW basis.
“Even by world
standards, it is unclear why the Itu Nuclear Plant is overpriced. Lazard finds that on the
average utility solar takes 9 months to build while nuclear plant may take 69
months (or about 6 years) to build. It is therefore, of great national
emergency for all religious leaders, social and human rights activists, and all
patriotic Nigerians to advocate for a halt of the construction of Itu Nuclear Power station. We have
advocated a new power architecture for Nigeria that includes clean energy
sources of solar and hydropower”, Njemanze said. Fundex Bitport
