There is one

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, the Ghana Research Reactor, located in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

. In operation since 1994, it is used for research, medical, and industrial purposes, but not for generating electricity.

Purpose

The

Ghana Atomic Energy Commission The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission'' (GAEC) is the state organization in Ghana involved with surveillance of the use of nuclear energy in Ghana. It is similar in aim to the Ghana Nuclear Society (GNS), with the difference being that the GNS is a ...

has been investigating the use of nuclear power and is a member of the

International Nuclear Library Network The International Nuclear Library Network (INLN), coordinated by thIAEA Library i.e. the Library of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is a consortium of nuclear libraries and knowledge centres. The Network seeks to promote the exchange of n ...

. The commission is working with the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...

to implement nuclear power in Ghana as part of a wider project, Sustainable Energy Development for Sub-Saharan Africa. Ghana also has a Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences which trains undergraduate and postgraduate students in the techniques of nuclear science application in such areas as agriculture, medicine, and research.Clark, Nancy L. "Electrical Power".
A Country Study: Ghana
' (La Verle Berry, editor).

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Federal Research Division The Federal Research Division (FRD) is the research and analysis unit of the United States Library of Congress. The Federal Research Division provides directed research and analysis on domestic and international subjects to agencies of the Unite ...

(November 1994). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

br>
/ref> Both of these organizations focus more on research and the one research reactor located in Ghana than on nuclear power. The

government of Ghana The Government of Ghana was created as a parliamentary democracy, followed by alternating military and civilian governments in Ghana. In January 1993, military government gave way to the Fourth Republic after presidential and parliamentary electi ...

is committed to the development of nuclear power as an environmentally-friendly energy source, and as of 2020 is undertaking preparatory steps for nuclear energy generation. President

John Agyekum Kufuor John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor (born 8 December 1938) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the President of Ghana from 7 January 2001 to 7 January 2009. He was also Chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008. Kufuor's career has been sp ...

supported the future building of nuclear power plants, seeing it as part of a solution to the country's energy problems. He initiated a Nuclear Power Committee to study the issue. In 2011, the director of the National Nuclear Research Institute, Benjamin Nyarko, also said he believed nuclear power could prevent future

energy crises An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particular, those that supply n ...

. The ministry has created a section to co-ordinate activities on the nuclear power project. The Russian state-owned atomic energy corporation

Rosatom Rosatom, ( rus, Росатом, p=rɐsˈatəm}) also known as Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom or Rosatom State Corporation, is a Russian state corporation headquartered in Moscow that speciali ...

signed a 'Memorandum of Understanding' with Ghana in August 2015 to develop a 1200 Megawatt reactor in Ghana- however, as the total energy production in the country at the time was only 2831MW, significant upgrades to the nation's energy grid would be necessary to accommodate it. In January 2017, the IAEA concluded an eight-day mission to Ghana to review the country's infrastructure and in preparation for selecting international vendors. A follow-up mission in October 2019 concluded that significant progress had been made, and that Ghana would soon be ready to discuss its options with international partners. In 2022 government approved the plan to build a 1 GWe nuclear power plant with vendors invited from USA, Russia, Canada and South Korea and contract expected to be signed 2024-2026.

References

{{energy-stub

Purpose

See also

References