ELECTRICITY GENERATION FROM NUCLEAR POWER: A PANACEA FOR MEETING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Abstract

The expansion of national electric power supply to meet the overall energy demand of a
country is indispensable for ensuring national growth and sustainable development. In
Nigeria, the NEEDS prescribed growth rate of 7% GDP that will ensure the attainment of
the Sustainable Development Goals of poverty reduction to 50% of the 2000 value by 2015
projected an electricity demand 45,055MW by 2030. In this paper, the contribution of
nuclear power generation in the energy mix of electricity generation in Nigeria has been
assessed under the high growth demand using dynamic modeling approach of MESSAGE.
The simulations revealed that, within technical and economic reliability, both ‘Light’
water and ‘Heavy’ water pressurized reactors (NPP2 and NPP1) would be necessary in
meeting the demand for electricity in the country as from 2024 with a total contribution of
5729MW. The paper also observed that at the prevailing demand evolution, the
contribution of the nuclear generation in the country’s generation mix would remain the
same even if carbon emission restrictions are imposed