The Jamaican Government is looking to incorporate nuclear power in the country’s energy mix according to Minister of Science, Energy & Technology, Daryl Vaz. He added that it will be used as a medium to long-term option. “It is something that we believe that any country, like Jamaica, would have to think of for energy security, especially because it is [renewable],” Vaz said during a Heads of Science Round Table Discussion at the Ministry’s office in Kingston. He said the government “recognises the importance of science to nation building”, and that “it must become a way of life in Jamaica”.
Professor Charles Grant, Director General of the International Centre for Environmental & Nuclear Sciences (ICENS), welcomed the news and noted that newer and smaller nuclear reactors were safe for generating electricity.“I am looking towards a bright future… having nuclear power here. Jamaica is a regional leader for nuclear technology and having a nuclear reactor here for the past 40 years that we have run safely and securely, is the foundation for this big step.”
ICENS, at the University of West Indies in Kingston, uses the Jamaican Safe Low Power Critical Experiment (SLOWPOKE-2) nuclear reactor to aid in research and national development initiatives.
The 20kW, Canadian-designed reactor is used for neutron activation analysis research, which has applications in environmental, agricultural and health-related studies. Jamaica also earlier this year launched its first public nuclear medicine centre in the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston.
Image: Jamaica's Minister of Science, Energy & Technology, Daryl Vaz
