CAIRO: With Egypt on the verge of announcing the rebirth of its nuclear energy program, many support the nuclear choice to compensate for dwindling non-renewable sources despite environmental concerns.
President Hosni Mubarak announced on Monday that Egypt intends to build several nuclear power stations, kick-starting a dormant nuclear program stagnant since the Chernobyl power plant accident in 1986.
“The nuclear project is extremely important and holds our destiny, the ruling National Democratic Party MP Mohamed Khalil Kwaitah told Daily News Egypt, “firstly because we are currently depending on non-renewable sources of energy like oil, which will run out. We must initiate the nuclear program.
“Secondly, Kwaitah added, “[it’s important] because of the inevitable environmental changes and the drying of riverbeds, including the 10 longest rivers of the world – one of which is the Nile. And the upcoming century has been termed the century of the water wars. We will need another way to treat water.
The first reactor Egypt intends to build will be in Dabaa’ off the coast of the Mediterranean east of Alexandria. According to Electricity Minister Hassan Younes, the site should host a 1,000 megawatt nuclear power station.
“Experts have concluded that Dabaa’ is the most suitable place for the water treatment process, Kwaitah said.
But the use of nuclear power seems inevitable, General Coordinator for the Arab Environmental Network Mohammed Mahmoud told Daily News Egypt that other alternative renewable energy sources should be examined first.
“I am with the use of nuclear energy as long as there are the appropriate safety measures in place. The use of solar and wind energy should take precedence over nuclear energy. Renewable energies such as these are the hope, Mahmoud said.
If nuclear energy is safely harnessed, Mahmoud said, it can be used considering that we now face an energy crisis.
“One day we will have to resort to nuclear energy, it is inevitable.
In his speech, Mubarak also emphasized the security factor. “Energy security is a basic element in building the future of the homeland and part and parcel of Egypt s national security system, the Mena news agency reported.
Nuclear Scientist and Professor of Nuclear Studies at Helwan University Abdel-Hakim Kandeel previously told Daily News Egypt that Egypt will very soon need alternative sources of energy, hence the need to develop the nuclear option.
“We need it for electricity, he said.
Kandeel explained that Egypt currently consumes 21,000 megawatts of electricity but that this figure would rise to 63,000 megawatts in the near future. Thus he believes that Egypt should not only build one reactor, but rather a minimum of four, each with a capacity of at least 1,000 megawatts.
As signatories of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, it was necessary for Egypt to coordinate the program with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said.
“We have signed the nonproliferation treaty and we will coordinate with the IAEA because it is known we require a nuclear program for peaceful means only. We are not Iran, Kandeel said.
Mubarak made similar comments saying the program will be developed with the IAEA “within a framework of transparency and respect of commitments to the nuclear non-proliferation system.
Egypt’s nuclear program has been on and off for 30 years at Dabaa’, the proposed site of Egypt’s first nuclear reactor. The site was once again mentioned at the ruling National Democratic Party’s annual conference in September 2006, where it was declared that Egypt would enter the nuclear age.
Kandeel said that nuclear power could also be used to desalinate sea water, necessary for certain areas of Egypt that are not located on the Nile, and advised that Egypt should build breeding reactors, which he felt were the safest.
