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The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) revealed that the country would start producing nuclear electricity, following the commissioning of facilities to improve research and ensure the training of scientists and engineers.
Dr. Kwaku Aning, Chair of the GAEC Board of Directors, made this known when the three facilities were put in the open air; a low enriched uranium nucleus research reactor, a miniature training center for neutron source reactors and a laboratory building for the Institute for Research in Radiological and Medical Sciences, for the purpose of institute.
"The ultimate goal of the country's nuclear project was to produce nuclear electricity, the long-term goal being to train and develop the manpower needed for the development of nuclear power. future acquisition and operation of a nuclear power plant ".
Welcoming the efforts of scientists and engineers at the Commission for their coordinated research, he recalled that the creation of laboratories would also help the center to realize GAEC's vision of becoming a leading medical research institution in the country.
He also took the opportunity to allow the US Government, China and IAEA to continue to support the GAEC.
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia explained that the new fuel should be operational for the next 40 years and would be an additional resource to support the necessary basic training of the manpower needed for the nuclear program. country.
He also noted that "Ghana has put in place the necessary measures to prevent, detect and combat theft, sabotage, unauthorized access and the illegal transfer of nuclear material, in particular because of the growing threat. of terrorism in recent years ".
He stressed: "We are aware of our responsibilities in protecting people and the environment from radiation."
According to Veep, Ghanaian scientists, together with scientists and experts from the national laboratories of Argonne and Idaho from the US Department of Energy, IAEA and China Institute of Atomic Energy, have begun the process of converting highly enriched uranium from Ghana. fuel cell reactor with low enriched uranium.
The reactor conversion was successfully completed in August 2017 with total expenditures of $ 22 million.
Ghana is the first country, with the exception of China, to have successfully completed the conversion of this type of reactor.
For his part, Professor Benjamin JB Nyarko, Executive Director of GAEC, appealed to the Vice President to help solve the problem of encroaching GAEC lands and to make the institution a university. autonomous.
The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission was established by an Act of Parliament, Law No. 204 of 1963, as the sole Ghanaian agency responsible for all matters relating to the peaceful uses of the atomic energy. atomic energy.
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