@spear kuja uambie hawa watu mambo ya coal plant
Another concern i forgot to raise is risk management when transporting waste material from the NPP.
Who will take the waste or shall we try to dump it secretly in land? UN: Nuclear Waste Being Released on Somalia's Shores After Tsunami
You must have missed the news about the publicly owned state corporations that are up for sale due to mismanagement among them NMC, if we could not get NMC to succeed, how do we expect a complicated engineering feat to be completed and then managed professionally? We don’t have Kenyans driving the SGR locomotives, when your Nuclear manuals are in Chinese (because we sign bad deals) expect non-Kenyans to be paid to run the plant (a win for job creation) The Star
This is a simple debate to have, if a nuclear power plant were to be set up in Kenya, it would most likely occur around a water body that is non-exhaustible, and that makes the Kenya coast or Lake Victoria one of the two main candidates for such a site. You can speak of all the irrelevancies, you wish to, but only those with a death wish go running around in Nuclear exclusion zones should a disaster occur. I’m sure there will be tourists flocking to Kenya once the headlines splash about such a disaster (yes, we, know its totally irrelevant, the economy will be unaffected because we have something we call a Nuclear Power Plant with rampant radiation for anyone desirous of it).
Any time one sets up such a plant you have to look at the worst case scenario, but we are indeed experts at acting like the proverbial ostrich, pretending that such things never happen, never having contingency plans and hoping the Israelis will come to our rescue. The Naivasha helicopter crash is just one more disaster we could not manage. Let’s not kid ourselves, we lack the capacity and setting up a Nuclear plant (regardless of NPP regulations or what have you on paper) is like handing a 5 year old a loaded gun to play with.
We cannot afford a Nuclear Power Plant, anyone trying to deceive you otherwise is consigning yourself, your children and their children’s children to lifetimes of perpetual debt. USA plants are closing because they are unable to manage the spiraling costs, but somehow we want to lie to ourselves that we can afford what it takes to run such a plant.
It would make the SGR look like pocket change, even though the government is already broke and already planning for another Eurobond. Once again, try not to gloss over the issues, there already enough power plants planned and under construction that will result in excess power being available in the country.
We are signing very bad deals, the investors know this, that is why those clauses exist, “You pay us, whether you take the power we produce or not, as long as we produce it you owe us”. If you cannot see the gimmick of why you would pay $360 million a year whether you use the power from a single plant or not for 25 years, the subject is beyond your comprehension.
You must have never visited a concrete jungle or ever wondered why some countries are spending millions building man made parks or importing animals to their zoos. Lastly you should ask yourself why those tourists come to Kenya, its obvious you do not appreciate what nature gave to you for free. Destroy it and you will learn the consequences the hard way.
It is not a secret that the west profited massively on a distabilised Somalia, that is why all efforts of resolving issues were always met by and even greator problem preceding the former. Reasons why in addition to the navy, Kenya needs a robust coast guard to guard it’s territorial waters. Of course it would have been cheaper to contract a nearby navy to fight the piracy mennacd, but mûthûngû was in no hurry to sell Kenya a reconnaissance ship for purposes of maritime patrol but the no Bama “donated” uhuru park type rowing rafts to Kenya navy tupigiye yeye makofi kilo.
Waste (Radio active) disposal management
Radioactive waste can entail the main different states and form of matter ie gas, solids, and liquids.
Half life of radioactivity can last from a few hours to thousands of years depending on the waste’s source.
With of course very serious implications to the enviroment when improperly disposed. Air, water, soil and fauna contramination with long term negative human health effects.
Radioactive waste management involves a series of stages, including planning and preparation, treatment, packaging, storage and disposal.
High Level Waste HLW
Mostly in liquid form and generated as a by-product during the reprocessing of spent fuel from nuclear reactors. This is when the rods are washed to remove Uranium remainders on the rods. The liquid HLW is mixed with crushed glass in a furnace to produce a molten product. The molten product is then poured into stainless steel canisters, which hold approximately 150 litres of waste.
The rods are packed and thereafter stored separately.
There are probably others here with deeper knowledge in this field as I never went further as my field was limited to the process design aspect but at least that is the main idea. So to anwer your question I would assume that since this is a very delicate industry requirering surgical precision in terms of operations and management, the industrial, energy and health departments will spell out the desired KEBS, ISO, WNA and local regulations to aid insuch operations. However there are two commonly accepted disposal options depending on the type of waste. These are short term requirering shallow disposal unit 0m - 100m deep, or long term storage for waste material in deep geological disposal with anything from 250 m to 6 km deep.
Whether you have undestanding of all the changes taking place, I would suggest to embrace these changes as no single individual can stop this country moving ahead. Kenya is destined to take off. In 25 years, this will be a very different economy but the impeeding factor lies mostly on the populations inability to draw benefits of the infrustructural changes due to a flawed system of education.
But there is a huge energy gap and that needs bridging. Kenyas energy capacity is at a paltry 2,351 MW, we should be producing 300 times that but this can only achieved through Nuclear Power Generation taking us to the next level. The current diesel powered SGR will be upgraded to electric powered in a couple of few years, and with plans of a light train system underway, 2,351 MW is not enough to sustain a quater of the current Nairobis population.
Nuclear energy was realized after it dawned on us that coal won’t even meet the vision 2030 requirements, thus it is quite essential to the countless dreams we have of a developed Kenya. It is easy, and for me thrilling, to think of all the things that can go horribly wrong.
I saw you mentioned Germany’s case of phasing out nuclear energy production but what you seem to forget is that it had been a decision they’ve been fighting with ever since 1977, with fear being the driving factor. Add politics into the mix and you’ll understand why the question of whether or not to phase it out, only came after elections. The other notable mentions of the internal conflicts that they had were after Chernobyl and Fukushima. France had planned for a reduction in production too but later reported that they wouldn’t follow through as it risked the security of energy supply. You seem to suggest that developed countries are, wholesomely, shifting from Nuclear Energy yet every time I search for countries planning permanent shutdown for a reactor, they’re building several more instead. Cases: Britain, France, Poland, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary in Europe alone.
You shouldn’t worry that much about waste handling and risk as these are all covered extensively by KNEB’s quality management system that got an ISO 9001:2015 certification. Yet, this was only after their commitment to strickly adhere to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s guidelines and recommendations. To add to that, S. Korea’s nuclear programs are well managed and that’s why the agreements made with KEPCO will see to it that we get a good kickstart.
If there’s anything that we should do away with before it even starts, it has to be the coal idea. Applying LCOE, while the fixed cost of operating an PP leads at $11 per MWh over coal’s ~$2 per MWh, the variable cost would be at ~ $7.9 per MWh over ~$25.1 per MWh for coal. The parameters include fuel cost.
Cost for constructing both phases of sgr was Ksh. 800 bn, no? Every month it sucks up Ksh. 1 bn, no? Yet building the first NPP will dent us a little over Ksh. 500bn. Not bad for something whose single reactor can rack up millions of profit in a day.
He seems to think that there’s a global meeting or conference where all developed countries meet to decide which nuclear plant to decommission. What he doesn’t get is that power plants have a life-cycle and an expiry date of a typical 30 to 50 years. And most of the 1st generation nuclear plants were built in the 40s through 60s in the US using old technologies which are difficult to maintain. They’re now being phased out and the lazy global environmentalists are piggybacking on the decommissioning to forward their agenda while ignoring the fact that these plants and cheap coal built industrial America.
They are being phased out because new technologies have emerged as with all engineering designs. You have to wonder whether we have people like him in government appointed for their loyalty and advising the president and ministers and giving non expert opinions on things that they have little knowledge about while vehemently disagreeing with those who do.
As much as I have grave concerns for setting up a NPP in Kenya, with our vision of 2030 and the energy gap that Kenya faces, it was very smart for Kenya to approach South Korea in partnering in this venture much as Korea is also the next largest actor after China in as far as building new multiple reactors.
I also strongly believe that nuclear power is the only viable course to achieve full energy independence, hence this is a sustainable energy source with very low carbon emissions and produces absolutely Zero air pollution in contrast to fossil fuels.
Great technological advancements have been achieved in waste management and storage of nuclear waste.
However the costs of setting up a NPP are extremely high and following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, costs are likely to go up for new nuclear power plants, due to new requirements for on-site spent fuel management and elevated design basis threats. Again we live in a very volatile neigbourhood but the technological sophistication that comes with setting up, running and management, al kebab like terrorist threat should not be a factor.
However to date all operating NPP around the world were developed by state-owned or regulated utility monopolies where many of the risks associated with political change and regulatory ratcheting are borne by consumers rather than suppliers. Future political uncertanities pose a huge risk as this is a very expensive venture.
Many of the operating countries have now liberalised the electricity market where these risks, lest the risk of cheap competition from subsidised energy sources emerging before capital costs are recovered, are borne by plant suppliers and operators rather than consumers, which leads to a significantly different evaluation of the risk of investing in new nuclear power plants.
Costa Ricans pay 18.4 cents per kWh for electricity.
Industrial powerhouses China pays 8 cents and India 8.5 cents.
Vietnam pays 7.1 cents.
Trying to copy Costa Rica would entail deindustrialization of what we already have.
Costa Rica is a Service based economy.Not an industrial one.Also its small population does not urgently need jobs like we do.
Specifics?
Fukushima was a Second Generation Nuclear plant.Those are not built today.Also the power plant survived the earthquake.It was the Tsunami that caused the problems
New reactor designs have made it impossible for new reactors to explode.A Molten Salt Reactor for example cannot even overheat beyond the design specifications.
It is very true that nuclear power plants are expensive to comstruct.
They are however extremely cheap to run and Generation 4 Reactors can last for half a century at least,making them worthwhile.
The rest of the world IS SHIFTING towards Nuclear power.
It is cheap.
It is the safest form of energy.
Generation 4 reactors cannot melt (Like Fukushima) or explode. In Fact Generation 4 reactors are going to make wind and solar look petty. If Generation 1 plants managed to be cheap despite only consuming 5 percent of the fuel feedstock fed to them, what about Generation 4 power plants that consume 97 percent??? MSRs can last up to 70 years and produce nuclear waste that is radioactive for 300 years AT MOST.
MSRs can use current nuclear waste as fuel(Because Generation 1 reactors used only 5 percent of the fuel efficiently). In short, they can act as breeder reactors.The US will not need the likes of Mount Yukon to store nuclear waste anymore.
Only 2 nations are not building new nuclear power plants.Germany and Japan. The US is, China is accelerating its construction of plants, Russia is replacing the old generation plants and extending the lifetime of many.Heck even South Africa wanted to build a Molten Salt Reactor until budget concerns(Nuclear power plants are expensive to build but cheap to run, especially Generation 4 reactors.)and I am sure Eskom regrets that decision right now. Egypt, South Korea, India, Iran and the UAE are all building nuclear power plants.
Prior to Trump, the Clean Air Plan stimulated the expansion of nuclear power in the US because to date, we do not have a source that emits even lower carbon emissions during its lifetime than even Hydro ,a ‘green’ source of energy,has a 92% uptime rate, is the safest source of energy, can work in all weather conditions(as highlighted by Hurricane Harvey in Texas which saw all wind power plants in the state shut down and of course, no solar, but nuclear reactors right at the coast kept working because they were designed to survive even the most powerful hurricanes. ) can work for 40 to 70 years(Generation 4 at least 50 minimum) and whose source of fuel , we have enough uranium for the next 5 million years or so.
So No.
The top 5 economies including Germany and the USA are shutting down more reactors that they are building, that’s just a fact. Can you name how many Nuclear plants the US has built over the last 30+ years? They were the pioneers in the field of Nuclear technology, that ought to tell you something. You could start with the one that bankrupted its builder. It might seem cheap to run until you look at the fundamentals, its going to cost New York state for example $7 billion to keep an existing Nuclear Power Plant going. In another part of the US, a Nuclear Power Plant was shutdown because the costs to repair a crack were going to be in the billions of dollars. Yes, its indeed “cheap” to run for some economies but not for a place like Kenya. Run cheap on Nuclear (do you think the Chinese care if their work in Africa is of a lesser standard and grade) and you will be risking a lot more than just cost savings.
Nuclear sio mchezo, the nations you listed strictly adhere to practices unheard of in Kenya. In Kenya the life of ordinary wananchi is considered expendable and shortcuts are taken. Its the national pastime to dabble in facets of impunity whenever we get an opportunity to do so. We want to fly before we can stand properly but don’t realise that unskilled flying means you will almost certainly crash with often fatal results.
It comes down to simple issues, why build when you already have excess power in the pipeline, and can Kenyans afford to pay for power they will not use. Where will the billions of dollars which will be in multiples of that spent on the SGR come from? Least we forget, lets remember we are already paying LTWP billions, and when we wind up with excess power, ni wananchi tu watakuwa wanalia bei ya stima ni kali. Excess power does not translate into free power, for 20+ years the power must be paid for at the agreed rate in US$. Export will not be an option, the neighbours already have more power than they can handle (unless of course Somalia and South Sudan step up to the challenge of importing but why do it when Ethiopia has the cheapest power available for export in the region)
@shocks start here: Germany: Nuclear power plants to close by 2022 - BBC News
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Millions of profit for whom and who will be paying? How shall we pay for it? You can dream anything you want to dream but in the real world someone has to pay for it. That’s the issue at hand. I’m interested in knowing what vision 2030 states about power demand vs power capacity that is in the pipeline, as it is, investors in a fair world would never get their initial investment back where oversupply occurs except in Kenya where the mwananchi will have their pockets raided even further.
Second what is more valuable, a coal plant or the destruction of ecosystems, proliferation of cancer (due to poor controls for disposal, we cannot even handle household takataka but we want to claim we can safely handle Nuclear and Coal Ash waste?) Development is good but we have to be realistic of the country we live in, devolution = devolved corruption, the economy can only grow if we grow the entire nation’s economy and uplift the well being of Kenyans which is not going to happen unless something drastic changes. Many Kenyans cannot afford to purchase power in the present, and there is little to indicate that this is about to change in the near future, neither is the cost of power for the next 20+ years (prices are being set in US$ and are fixed for that duration). More power does not mean lower prices, either you increase your income or suffer from being unable to afford it.
Again, did you read my post???
They are shutting down Generation 1 and 2 reactors. .They are building Generation 3 and 4 reactors that do not have the problems that reactors built in the 1950s and 1970s have.
Germany is not building new reactors.China IS BUILDING MORE NUCLEAR REACTORS THAN IT IS SHUTTING DOWN!!
In fact, China and India alone will build the equivalent of all of the reactors found on the planet outside Russia and the US. Apart from Brazil, Japan and Germany, 17 of the 20 top economies are building nuclear reactors. Even the likes of Mexico which has had only one reactor so far.
It is South Korea and France that will build our nuclear power plants and the Korean deal is the most effective I have seen .
Where did you hear China will build ours???
If we cannot manage domestic waste…
Is it the Nairobi City County Government or Joho that will be managing nuclear waste??
Last I checked India has a major domestic waste problem and their nuclear waste management is just fine!!
Again, Generation 4 reactors consume 95%+ of the fuel as opposed to Generation 1 reactors that consumed 5% .The waste we will generate over a span of 50 years will be like 10,000 tonnes for like 10 working MSR reactors.
Unlike Generation 1 reactors that produced radioactive material that would be rdioactive for 10,000 + years. Generation 4 reactors produce fissile material that is active for a maximum of 300 years.
The issues facing Generation 1 reactors that the US and Russia has plenty of are not there in Generation 4 and most Generation 3 reactors
Again, You have no idea what you are talking about.
On the issue of demand for power… That is the Kenyan conondrum.Industrialists claim we do not have enough power, Government claims we do not have enough industries to absorb excess power. One has to give.
If we have excess CHEAP power. And transport as well(which the SGR is), they will most definitely come.
The problem with this country is that we negotiate power tariffs poorly , there are extra levies in the power bills and power companies building power plants on Kenyan loans demand high tariffs due to the high interest rates. I noticed that in the US Geothermal power producers ask for 3 cents per kWh while here some ask for as high as 7 cents citing the high cost of financing such projects(This excludes Kengen).
The Korean deal fixed the cost of Nuclear at 5 cents per kWh. The only source that is cheaper is Hydro at 2.5 and 3 cents.
As for the levies, the ERC levy sshould be 1 cent per kWh, there should be no VAT, the WRMA levy should apply only to Domestic consumers paying the cheapest tariff etc.
Obienga, it seems to be a daunting task to engage you in any dialog here as you keep on repeating the same thing over and over…it’s as if you are having a discussion with your own head. Respectfully.
So if you honestly feel your course is fufilled and that the information you have is sufficient enough to provide an abracadabra cure so be it., then there is nothing else to add.
You mixing stuff, grouping europe with america in matters of management of green policy, while demonstrating ignorance of a deviation between central and county government in the republic of Kenya which I find shallow and disingenious.
Europe
The green movement gained political popularity and their policies got a public endorsment in the 80’s and mostly after the Chernobyl accident of 86, notably the green party in Spain and Germany. The green party in Germany commanded almost 10 % of the Bundestag by the end of the 80’s because of the looming dangers of radiation in europe again because of the Chernobyl accident!
At this juncture there is no relevance in repeating what has already been said in regard to the old technology contra mordern technology to be precise Gen I and II of the Nuclear Power Plants.
United States
America on the other hand is a totally different ball game.
So the American Society of Civil Engineers has since 1998 (ASCE) released periodically a report card assessing the condition of Americas infrastructure (roads, schools, train stations, bridges, water resevoirs, waste, energy systems) and many more. ASCE’s recent report card on Americas infrastructure assigned 15 critical infrastrucres cartegory an overall of grade D.
In New York, the ASCE found that 2,078 of the state’s 17,442 bridges are structurally deficient. The ASCE also determined that New York needs an investment of $22 billion to fix its drinking water infrastructure over the next 20 years. The ASCE also reports that 23 percent of the state’s major roads are in poor condition. The average school building in America is 40-50 years old, one in every nine bridges across the country – for a total of 70,000 bridges – is considered structurally deficient. You kind of get the picture now, in other words America has $2 trillion infrastructure deficit!
The US has, as of 2013, undergoing a practical phase-out, independent of stated goals and continued official support. This is not due to concerns about the source or anti-nuclear groups, but due to the rapidly falling prices of natural gas and the reluctance of investors to provide funding for long-term projects when short term profitability of hydro power is available.
So as Gerald has said in the previous post, it is ignorant or lack of basic elementary civil education to draw wanting comparisons and moral equvalancies of that Kenya is in capable of setting up and managing a nuclear power plant while Djoho, Waititu, and the baba Teresia (read; not Mother Theresa) are in capable of handling waste in the respective counties.
When people mention vision 2030 I just laugh. What do we think will have happened? With our useless leadership that is focused on auctioning everything to the Chinese and not growing local manufacturing economy, expect all industries to be dead. Ongeza the piling debt and white elephant projects like konza. For. Me we should go back to the basics and producing more energy by nuclear or coal is not one of them
Hyo tweet ni ntumbi alipost si papa fololo :D:D:D