Promotion to the rank of Principal Research Scientist: DR. ARCHIBOLD BUAH-KWOFIE is Principal Research Scientist

Dr. Archibold Buah-Kwofie, the Deputy Director for the Nuclear Power Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, has been promoted to the rank of Principal Research Scientist for his outstanding contribution to research and development at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission.

Dr. Archibold Buah-Kwofie has over fifteen years’ experience in research and development at the Ghana Atomic Energy and before his elevation to the rank of Principal Research Scientist, he was a Senior Research Scientist.

Dr. Buah-Kwofie is an environmental management and analytical services professional, an astute researcher with over 25 scientific publications in top tier international peer-reviewed journals in his field of expertise and has participated in many international and local workshops and conferences.

Dr. Buah-Kwofie has been actively involved in some locally and internationally funded projects as well as leading teams of Scientists. The projects include UNIDO sponsored investigations of contaminated site (a toolkit has been developed to serve as a guide for all contaminated site investigations) and UNEP/UNITAR sponsored National Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) project, serving as the national expert. As the national expert, he collaborated with several national institutions to undertake a national inventory. Subsequently, he was part of the team that supervised the shipment of PCB contaminated oil for disposal overseas. As part of the project, he trained technologists from different PCB holder institutions and customs on how to use the LD2000DX PCB analyzer to quantify PCBs in transformer oils.

Dr. Buah-Kwofie holds a PhD in Environmental Analytical Chemistry from the University of  Witwatersrand, South Africa as well as a Master’s and Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Ghana, Legon.

Promotion to the rank of senior research scientist: Dr. Felix Ohene-Fobih Ameyaw

Dr. Felix Ohene-Fobih Ameyaw, the Manager for Nuclear Energy Planning Center (NEPC) of the Nuclear Power Institute has been promoted to the rank of Senior Research Scientist for his outstanding contribution to research and development at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission.

 

Dr. Ameyaw has thirteen years’ experience in research and development and has played a significant role in the development of infrastructural issues for Ghana’s Nuclear Power Programme. Before his elevation to the rank of Senior Research Scientist, Dr. Ameyaw was Research Scientist.

 

His areas of interest are Reactor engineering, Desalination and Radioactive waste, Safety and Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA). He has over fifteen publications in scientific publications in top tier international peer-reviewed journals in the stated fields of expertise. The publications include “A Review for Identification and Selection of Initiating Events Important for Level 1 Probabilistic Safety Assessment Study for a 10 MW Water Research Reactor (VVR)” and “Modeling and Simulation of Coupled Nuclear Heat Energy Deposition and Transfer in the Fuel Assembly of the Ghana Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-1)”. Dr. Ameyaw led the development of documents, covering five of the nineteen infrastructure issues for Ghana’s nuclear power programme.

 

He also led and played significant roles in advancing a number of IAEA-assisted Technical Cooperation Projects. He attended and participated in numerous training courses in the areas of Nuclear Safety and Security, Project Management and Leadership, Physical Protection of Nuclear Facilities and Materials, Successful Launching and Mentoring of Nuclear Power Programme.

 

Dr. Ameyaw holds a BSc. Mathematics Degree from the University of Cape Coast (UCC), an MPhil in Computational Nuclear Sciences and Engineering and PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences of the University of Ghana.

 

Dr. Ameyaw, considers being a part of the team handling Ghana’s Nuclear Power agenda as his biggest opportunity. For him, success would be, to see a fully operational nuclear power plant in Ghana.

The Technical arm of the Ghana Nuclear Power Programme Organisation (GNPPO), the Nuclear Power Institute (NPI) of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) has met the Ministry of Information (MoI) in Accra to discuss possible collaboration on the sensitisation of the public about Ghana’s nuclear power programme. The meeting forms part of the GNPPO’s action plan to involve State institutions in its stakeholder engagement agenda.

 

The MoI was led by Honourable Fatimatu Abubakar, the Deputy Minister, and the technical arm of the GNPPO by Prof. Samuel Boakye Dampare, the Director General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission.

 

Prof. Seth Kofi Debrah, the Director of the Nuclear Power Institute, in his presentation on behalf of the GNPPO, revealed that a survey by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) has identified the need to intensify engagement on Ghana’s nuclear power programme. He explained that the GNPPO will be more effective in reaching out to all the districts of Ghana if it can partner with State institutions with the required experience and resources to undertake such campaigns.

Prof. Seth Kofi Debrah delivering his presentation

 

Hon. Fatimatu Abubakar expressed her satisfaction with the nuclear journey of Ghana, stating that the presentation clearly outlines the role of the Ministry in the nationwide information campaign and indicated that the Ministry has the requisite expertise for the campaigns. She, therefore, expressed the ministry’s readiness to collaborate and support the nuclear programme.

She concluded that the Ministry was open to formal and informal engagements and would be available for subsequent engagements in respect of the collaboration.

The Deputy Minister for Information Honourable Fatimatu Abubakar making a point

From left: Mrs Andrews, Dr Yamoah, Prof. Debrah, Hon. Fatimatu Abubakar, Prof. Dampare, Dr Buah-Kwofie

In response to a question of whether the country has the legal framework in place for the smooth implementation of the nuclear power programme, Prof. Dampare explained that the country has established an independent Nuclear Regulatory Authority to regulate the activities of the owner-operator and other players. He added that the regulatory authority was established by an Act of Parliament which mandates them to regulate all nuclear-related applications in Ghana.

 

Professor Seth Kofi Debrah added that aside from the establishment of the independent Regulatory Authority, Ghana has acceded to and ratified all the required international conventions for nuclear energy applications.

PRIC & LSCC

Ghana, Brazil, Russia and the United States in a wide-ranging conversation with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi, have spelled out their plans for using nuclear power to help reduce carbon emission and achieve sustainable development.

This was during an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) side event at the COP26 in Glasgow, United Kingdom and the discourse was on “Nuclear Innovation for a Net Zero World”.

COP26 is the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference while Conference of the Parties (COP) is a Conference for countries that have signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a treaty that came into force in 1994.

The side event was in line with IAEA’s support for newcomer countries like Ghana, who are in the process of developing the infrastructure needed for a safe, secure and sustainable nuclear power programme and project. Ghana was represented on the panel discussion by the Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.

Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (first from right) making a point on Ghana’s nuclear power plans to reduce carbon emission

In response to the status and perspective of the Ghana Nuclear Power Programme, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh recounted the history of Ghana’s nuclear power programme emphasizing that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, about 60 years ago, had both hydro and nuclear power ambitions and while hydro power was successful the nuclear power programme did not see the light of day. He mentioned that President Agyekum Kufour reactivated the nuclear power programme and subsequent Presidents and governments have taken a step in the right direction. He reiterated the need for other baseloads, stating that nuclear power was probably the cleanest of the alternatives available. He disclosed that aside from nuclear, Ghana has a renewable energy policy to meet its Paris target. “Recently, we have started renewable and as of now about 2.4% of our energy mix is renewable. Our Paris target is 10% renewable by 2030”, he said.

Dr. Prempeh also responded to the question of whether the biggest challenge for Ghana would be financing the project or capacity building. He answered that he was not inclined to picking one over the other but the most important thing is to get it right. “Even if we have the money, we should get it right. We should have the human capacity well trained in the nuclear technology we are adopting. Once we select a country as a partner, with your support, we need to train our people in the technology available…that country needs to help in the financing issues. We have to take all the steps simultaneously”, he added.

The Director General of the IAEA expressed satisfaction with the approach to nuclear discourse, especially its contribution to climate change. “People are approaching the issue of nuclear’s contribution to climate change from a more objective perspective, with a much better disposition. We all know that without the current contribution of nuclear, the figures, the stats, the graphs would be much worse than they are. The voice of nuclear had to be heard, it’s being heard and will continue to be heard,” Mr Grossi said.

PRIC & LSCC

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Mariano Grossi says Nuclear is, and will be, part of the solution towards the goal of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius.

This was captured in reports released by the IAEA detailing the role of Nuclear Science and Technology in climate change adaptation and of nuclear power in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and Agenda 2030 for sustainable development.

He explained that the role of nuclear is to help realize a net zero world and to help adapt the management of agricultural systems and natural resources to cope with challenges posed by climate change.

He expressed worry about rising temperatures and the consequences of climate change. “Woods are burning, floods and hurricanes are multiplying, and temperatures are rising. Now is the time for action, and this action must be based on science and on facts and according to the best science of our day, nuclear power is part of the solution”, he said.

He clarified further that nuclear power forms a high percentage of the world’s clean energy, a clear indication that the climate situation could be worse without nuclear. “Nuclear energy provides more than a quarter of the world’s clean power…Over the last half century, it has avoided the release of more than 70 giga-tonnes of greenhouse gasses. Without nuclear power, many of the world’s biggest economies would lack their main source of clean electricity”, he added.

COP26: How Nuclear Power and Technologies Can Help Tackle Climate Change (iaea.org)