The NOA said that nuclear energy, otherwise known as atomic energy, should comprise a significant amount in the nation’s energy mix, noting that it has little negative impact on the climate.
In a statement signed by the NOA’s deputy director of press, Mr. Fidel Agu, the agency urged the country to embrace nuclear power in order to meet its growing energy needs.
The NOA Director General, Garba Abari, during an official visit to the Chairman, Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, NAEC, Dr. Erepamo Osaisai, said the agency was putting up a programme that will address negative perceptions about nuclear energy among Nigerians.
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Responding, Osaisai noted that NAEC has the mandate to develop Nuclear energy in Nigeria, adding that atomic energy is not just useful in the development of Power and weapons, but also used for agricultural development amongst other uses.
The Energy Commission of Nigeria had in 2015; put the country’s energy requirement at 31,240 Mega Watts.
However, Nigeria’s highest peak of energy generation, as at February 2016, was put at 5,074.7 Mega Watts, according to statistics made available by the Federal Ministry of Power.
Recall that the Federal Government had made several attempts in the past to improve on the country’s power generation, including partnering international organisations on nuclear energy generation.
In 2015, Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) said it had agreed with the Nigerian government on nuclear power plants construction, after which it selected two sites in Akwa Ibom and Kogi states.