Brigitte Weidlich
22 April 2008
Windhoek — PLANS by Government to build a nuclear power station and a uranium enrichment plant might not be a good idea for Namibia, a renowned expert in nuclear energy has said.
"I was informed that there is a discussion in Namibia to maybe build such a plant but I don't know if it will be so good for Namibia," Professor Klaus Kuehn, an expert in nuclear waste disposal, said on Thursday after presenting a lecture on the nuclear fuel cycle, uranium enrichment and sophisticated technologies to store nuclear waste.
Kuehn made the remark in response to questions after his lecture at the Polytechnic on Thursday night.
"I don't know if it would be the right decision for Namibia at this stage.
Embarking on uranium enrichment is a highly sophisticated technology.
Maybe Namibia should do this as a bilateral or even trilateral co-operation [with other countries]," Kuehn responded.
He also pointed out that highly radioactive waste like plutonium, contained in the nuclear fuel rods of nuclear reactors, kept their radioactivity for 240 000 years.
Storage of such waste had to be done with extremely great care, he said.
"The radioactivity will reduce in stages over the thousands of years until then, but is only completely gone 240 000 years from now."
Kuehn gave an overview of the latest technologies used in Europe and the USA on uranium enrichment, recycling of nuclear fuel rods and storage of nuclear waste.
"Storage is highly costly," he emphasised.
Meanwhile, West Australian Metals (WAM) announced yesterday that more uranium had been found north of Trekkopje in the Erongo Region at its Marencia mining project.
"Recent drilling has established potential for a further 17 to 27 million pounds of contained uranium 3O8 in addition to the 16 million pounds U3O8 already found," WAM said in a statement.
"The exploration potential is to a depth of 40 metres and for an area of only seven square kilometres."
About 12 new uranium mines, including Marencia, are expected to start operations in Namibia within the next two years.
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