30 March 2014, Lagos — NIGERIA has begun training nuclear engineers on power safety ahead of ambitious plans to produce 1 200 MW of power by 2020 through nuclear sources.
Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) with support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is carting out the training.
Abida Khatoon, nuclear power specialist and leader of the training team, said the partnership between IAEA and NNRA would provide basic professional training, especially in the area of nuclear power safety.
“It is basically a training programme to for engineers working on the country’s nuclear power project. Ours is to offer technical support in area of training and that is exactly what we are doing now,” he said.
He said that about 10 more engineers would be trained in the current programme, which would be concluded by next month.
Nigeria’s nuclear power project is also projected to contribute at least 4 000MW to the total national electricity supply by 2030.
The country currently has three nuclear energy research centres sited in University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria and University of Port Harcourt.
The three centres jointly graduated six nuclear engineers last month.
*Cajnews