Lessons From Fukushima

Last week's tsunami hit Japan very hard and I sympathize with the government and people of Japan. I would also like to acknowledge the laudable efforts of the international community in assisting with clean up and rescue missions to find survivors.

 The tsunami has come and gone but there is an impending danger still looming around - FUKUSHIMA. Fukushima is a town that was hit by the tsunami and do you know the creepy thing about this town??? Yeah, you were right if you said it has a nuclear reactor. The disaster affected the reactors and radiation levels started to rise (it got me wondering what kind of karma Japan has with radiation? Remember Hiroshima?). It doesn't take an atomic physicists  to know the effects of exposure to radiation. But for those of you who don't know, the person would undergo some transformations, hair falling off, nails removing and the likes (it reminds me of one popular black and white musician).

 So what can Nigerians and the entire African continent learn from Fukushima (that's if we learn anything at all)? The major source of generation of electric power in Africa is through coal, gas and hydro-electric plants and I read reports sometime back that Nigeria wants to start generating power through Nuclear energy. And I had some questions.

 It is common knowledge that there are eight (8) turbines at Kanji dam (the major hydro electric power generation station in Nigeria) and only one (1) turbine is working. If the government can not maintain and improve on a technology that some Chinese farmers were using decades ago (hydro-electricity) how can they maintain a technology as advanced as a Nuclear power station?  How can the government whom can not take care of its sports men and women even when on national  assignments take care of a nuclear power plant? How many Nuclear engineers and Atomic physicists do we have at our disposal to manage the facility? We all know the low grade materials used for building projects, how are we sure the materials used for the power plant would be an exception? I would like the Federal Government to consider these questions before they go on another white elephant project.

 Once again, I would like to congratulate the officials in Japan for their management of the reactors and also Manchester United, for observing a minute silence in their previous two (2) matches.

 But seriously… NIGERIA IS NOT READY FOR A NUCLEAR REACTOR!