He also said the Board would guard against complacency on safety among industry players in the country’s quest to establish a nuclear plant to support the provision of sustainable and affordable energy to to the citizenry.

Prof Nyarko said: “We shall ensure strict adherence to all the safety aspects of the Project [Ghana’s Nuclear Power Plant], including environmental issues as required by the international standards and our country’s Regulatory requirements.”

He also said that: “While we observe many achievements made globally in the field of nuclear safety, there can be no grounds for complacency about nuclear safety in Ghana’s efforts to build a nuclear power plant.”

The NPG Board Chairman said this at an ongoing three-day media workshop in the Eastern Region for Regional Managers, Editors, and Chief Reporters of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and selected Editors from other media houses across the country.

He said nuclear power had proven to be low-carbon source of electricity, with a 60-year track record of providing reliable and safe operation, adding that further innovation and technological development with new generation nuclear power plants would “enable even wider applications aimed at decarbonisation of our economy and supporting other sectors, especially industrialisation and job creation.”

Prof Nyarko noted that the peaceful use of nuclear energy played an important role in many ways in the global socio-economic growth and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Nuclear science and technology contribute directly to no less than nine out of the seventeen SDGs, and, to deal with climate change, nuclear energy certainly has a role to play,” he emphasised.

Dr Seth Debrah of the Nuclear Power Institute (NPI) said though no industry was ‘immune’ to disasters, nuclear power sector had suffered some ‘bad' perceptions that made it difficult for people to accept it particularly because it was developed out of war.

He assured that there would be radiation protection, emergency plans and plant safety measures in place to ensure maximum protection of people and sites.

Nana Ransford Tetteh, the Board Chairman of GNA, said the workshop was important to help the media communicate effectively for the public to appreciate the essence of nuclear power to daily and industrial use.

He urged the participants to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the workshop and said: “It’s an emerging area and one day it will be very beneficial to you.”

Nana Ransford Tetteh commended NPG for the collaboration with GNA, which started in October 2020.