Chairman of the Nigerian Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), Engr. Muktar S. Ali, has expressed satisfaction with the state of the Nigerian nuclear research reactor domiciled at Ahmadu Bello University Centre for Energy Research and Training.
Engr. Ali made the remark when he was taken round some of the research facilities at the Centre by the Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. Kabir Bala, and Director, Centre for Energy Research and Training, Prof. Ibrahim Musa Umar, shortly after the Centre’s Board of Governors meeting on Thursday.
The Chairman was particularly impressed with the performance of the nuclear research reactor when it was test-run for him to see how it operates.
In 2018, the Centre successfully replaced its highly enriched uranium (HEU) core nuclear research reactor with low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. This was in response to the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) and Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) campaign for, minimization and to the extent possible elimination of the use of highly-enriched uranium core in civil nuclear applications.
Engr. Ali explained that NAEC, which funds and regulates all nuclear research activities of the Centre, would ensure that the research body achieved the objectives for which it was established.
The Board of Governors’ meeting, presided over by the Vice-chacellor, Prof. Kabir Bala, was the first in six years. Effort is being made by the University administration to turn the Centre around; hence the appointment of Prof. Ibrahim Musa Umar as the Director of the Centre to oversee the place. Prof. Umar, who is former Vice-Chancellor of Gombe State University was a one time Director of the Centre.
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