IS UGANDA’S NUCLEAR PLANT IN BUYENDE, BUSOGA, A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN?

History of Nuclear Energy

The first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, was built in late 1942. The reactor was part of the Manhattan Project, which was the Allied effort to create atomic bombs during World War II. J. Robert Oppenheimer is often called the “father of the atomic bomb” because he led the development of the first nuclear weapons. He was a theoretical physicist who directed the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was not directly involved in the Manhattan Project, but he did play a role in the early stages. Einstein became a naturalized American citizen in 1940, but the US Army Intelligence Office denied him a security clearance. He supported the Allies but not the use of atomic weapons. Einstein was not a part of the Manhattan Project, and he was never in Los Alamos during the project

Countries with nuclear weapons

Soon, however, the temptation to develop nuclear weapons for war and intimidation of other countries seized a number of countries. Today, nine countries possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea. South Africa also produced nuclear devices beginning in 1979, but it later dismantled them before joining the NPT in 1991. In total, the global nuclear stockpile is close to 13,000 weapons. Although Western powers persisted in accusing Iraq and Iran of having nuclear weapons, to date no evidence has been unearthed. Based on claims that Iraq had nuclear weapons, the country was invaded by the USA and its leader, Saddam Hussein was beheaded.

Chernobyl Nuclear Accident

When in 1986, the Defunct Soviet Union’s nuclear plant, Chernobyl nuclear plant located in Ukraine exploded the explosion resulted in a massive release of radiation, causing immediate deaths among plant workers due to acute radiation syndrome, widespread radioactive contamination across parts of Europe, and a significant increase in thyroid cancer cases, particularly among children exposed to radioactive iodine at the time of the accident; long-term health effects are still being studied, including potential increases in other cancers and psychological impacts from the disaster and forced evacuations. Actually, there have been two major reactor accidents in the history of civil nuclear power – Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi. Worldwide, many nuclear accidents and serious incidents have occurred before and since the Chernobyl disaster in April 26 1986. Two-thirds of these mishaps occurred in the US. The usual causes of nuclear accidents are defective reactor design and inadequate training of nuclear plant operators. In the case of Chernobyl, the RBMK reactor design was flawed and unforgiving for operators. The reactor lacked a containment structure, which would have kept radiation inside the plant. Besides, the operators were inadequately trained, there was a lack of safety culture and safety measures were ignored, the control rods had graphite tips that increased reactivity instead of reducing it, the uranium fuel in the reactor overheated and melted through protective barriers and the graphite blocks used as a moderator caught fire, contributing to the emission of radioactive materials.

China’s Supremacy in Nuclear Technology Development

Based on current information, China is considered to be a highly capable builder of nuclear power plants, leading the world in terms of the pace of new nuclear reactor construction and demonstrating advanced technology in the field, particularly with their ability to rapidly deploy new reactors at scale; making them one of the best builders of nuclear plants globally.

According to available information, nuclear plants built by the Chinese government are considered to be generally safe, with a strong emphasis on safety regulations and practices, having operated for many years without major incidents, and continuously improving their safety standards through advancements in design and technology; however, some concerns remain regarding transparency and international oversight of their nuclear programmes

China has not experienced a nuclear accident due to the Chinese government’s efforts to improve nuclear safety. The explanation is that after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, the Chinese government conducted a nine-month safety inspection of its nuclear facilities. The inspection found a low likelihood of nuclear accidents. China’s nuclear industry has reached a stage of safe and efficient development, ushering in a new phase of high-quality progress to ensure nuclear safety. A 2019 document titled “Titled Nuclear Safety in China” prepared by The State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China, states that China is an important advocate, promoter and participant in building a fair, collaborative and mutually beneficial international nuclear safety system. It adds that China treats nuclear safety as an important obligation of the state, and exercises unified regulation through special organizations and a regulatory system under pinned by independence, openness, the rule of law, rationality, and effectiveness. To ensure independent regulation of nuclear safety and enhance its authority and effectiveness, China has strengthened technical support and developed a professional team while modernizing the system and the regulatory capacity.

Uganda in the Nuclear Age

It is against this background that Uganda’s politico-military rulers decided to go nuclear with China’s involvement. The Minister for Energy and Mineral Development, Ruth Nankabirwa, said government was making firm steps to integrate nuclear energy into the electricity generation mix to ensure energy security and provide sufficient electricity for industrialization. “Preparation to evaluate the Buyende Nuclear Power Plant site is ongoing to pave the way for the first nuclear power project expected to generate 2,000 MW, with the first 1,000 MW to be connected to the national grid by 2031,” she said.

The government is committed to developing nuclear power ostensibly for peaceful purposes, aiming to utilize its domestic uranium reserves to generate electricity and meet its growing energy needs, while remaining committed to non-proliferation treaties and international safeguards, signifying its intention to use nuclear technology solely for civilian applications; as of now, Uganda has not constructed any operational nuclear reactors but is actively working towards building the necessary infrastructure to do so in the future.  In March 2023, the Uganda government announced the plans to start nuclear power generation. Called the Buyende Nuclear Power Plant, and located in Busoga, it is being pursued in partnership with China National Nuclear Corporation. The question is: will the Uganda government meet and sustain the very high safety standards of its mentor in nuclear energy development -the Chinese Government -professionalism and a regulatory system under- pinned by independence, openness, the rule of law, rationality, and effectiveness”

Unfortunately, in Uganda we are now used to lack of openness, adherence to the rule of law, rationality and effectiveness in all state institutions and agencies, with ethnicity, corruption and who is who being central to institutional and development processes. Yet, to be as successful as China in abating nuclear failures or accidents, this independence of thought, openness, independence, the rule of law, rationality and effectiveness cannot be ignored in a successful nuclear development programme.

Fear of Nuclear Accidents and Misuse in Uganda 

Unfortunately, the development is taking place in a very volatile region, the Great Lakes region. It is not far-fetched to imagine that when the M23 Banyamulenge terrorists attacked Goma in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a nuclear plant there could have been exploded, with dire consequences.

When I visited Hiroshima in 2003 to attend the World Water Forum II in Kyoto, Japan, effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945 by the USA, were still detectable. Although the bombing ended the Second World War, the nuclear pollution left physical and genetic scars in the Japanese population. I saw men and women with huge heads in Hiroshima.

One academic who retired from Makerere University service recently asked me, “Can Uganda with its incompetence manage a nuclear plant without the risk of nuclear leakage? Can Uganda that is not yet a fully stable nation-state sustain a nuclear plant without the risk of some rebel group throwing a bomb in the plant and the next time we here all Basoga are poisoned with nuclear pollution?

Well, what do you think with presidentialism being central to everything in Uganda and emphasising that what matters in Uganda are interests, not identities?

Environmentally speaking, the identified site for nuclear power development is near Lake Kyoga and River Nile. My concern is that in case of technical carelessness nuclear radiation would pollute the waters of Lake Kyoga and River Nile and negatively affect all life in the water and humans and animals dependent on the water. What happened to people after the nuclear explosions of Chernobyl in Ukraine Fukuyama in Japan, and in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan after the USA dropped atomic bombs on those cities, would be right with us here at home. Of course, with our health system unprepared to respond to nuclear pollution effectively, we would be in real shit.

Besides, since the Nile flows to the Mediterranean Sea, its water contaminated with nuclear waste would wreak havoc environmentally and genetically in the world life in the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea as well as the surrounding human populations and their animals. Of course, when the decision to erect a nuclear plant in Uganda was taken, no one wanted to overstretch his or her mind in the unknown. His or her approach was to nuclear energy development was “Let Nature Take its Own Course”

I have elsewhere in the article stated that it is not far-fetched to imagine that when the M23 Banyamulenge terrorists attacked Goma in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a nuclear plant there could have been exploded, with dire consequences. Well, it is a fact that Uganda is in the Great Lakes region, whose waters could be polluted by nuclear radiation, It is also integral to the triangle of violence, which includes Goma, Kigali and Kampala, where decisions to wage violence are decided today in the region prone to war and genocide. It is a fact that Uganda’s stability is unstable stability, although it has taken as long as the British colonial stable unstable stability. We have had many unstable stabilities under Obote I, Idi Amin, Yusuf Lule, Binaisa, Paulo Muwanga, Obote II and Tito Okello. Yugoslavia had its latent unstable instability for 70 years until full-grown instability sprouted, leading to the break up of the country.

In Uganda, we cannot rule out future terrorist activities like those we had during 1980-1986. With a nuclear plant, it would not be far-fetched to ask: What if terrorists, with no knowledge of the environmental and genetic impacts of nuclear pollution, decided to bomb Uganda’s nuclear plant? Nothing is impossible under the Sun. And never say never. Never stop asking:

“Is Uganda’s nuclear plant in Buyende, Busoga, a disaster waiting to happen?”

For God and My Country