Residents in Kilifi county have protested against the proposal to build a nuclear energy plant in the area – saying it would endanger their ecosystem, negatively affect their health, and scuttle livelihoods.
- •Last year, the government announced plans to tap into nuclear energy to reduce reliance on Hydro-Electric Power, Geothermal power, and fossil fuels.
- •Construction of the 1,000 MW nuclear power plant, which is estimated to cost KSh 500 billion, is slated to begin in 2027 and operations are projected to start in 2034.
- •Local communities in Kilifi have doubted the government’s capability to handle nuclear energy and fear that they are likely to bear the brunt of environmental destruction the plant will pose.
“We say that this project has a lot of negative effects. There will be malformed children born in these places, fish will die and forests like Arabuko Sokoke will be lost. The plant will cause more harm than good,” said Francis Auma, an activist.
During the demonstrations, local residents said they depended on economic activities like fishing and ecotourism. These activities, they lamented, are likely to be interrupted by the project’s immense degradation.
“Our main source of income here is ecotourism. We depend on the environment. We host the only East African coastal forest, we host the Watamu marine park, we host the largest mangrove plantation in Kenya. We do not want nuclear to mess up our ecosystem,” Phyllis Omido, Executive Director of the Centre for Justice Governance and Environmental Action, said.
Last November, Omido, a veteran activist of environmental issues in the coastal region, filed a petition in Parliament asking for unrestricted information on the proposed plant construction and the criteria used in evaluating the location as ‘suitable’.
The government has defended its plans saying that construction of the plant is yet to kick-off because environmental regulations are being drafted. NUPEA published an impact assessment report last year, charting out the guiding policies for dealing with radioactive waste.
Nuclear energy has been a subject for intense debate globally as energy needs continue rising. While it is certainly reliable, cost-effective in the large scale, and a good alternative to carbon-emitting fossil fuels – safety concerns remain higher. Nuclear accidents such as those in Fukushima, Japan (2011) and Chernobyl, former Soviet Union (1986) strike fear in the hearts of environmental warriors.