Namibia plans to adopt nuclear power as a source of energy over the next 15 to 20 years.

"We have made a decision to build a nuclear power plant," confirmed Namibian Mines and Energy Minister Erkki Nghimtina to Engineering News Online at the International Conference on Access to Civil Nuclear Energy in Paris on Tuesday.

"We're saying it will be built in the future. It will be a long process. But we have to start preparing now. Our policy is, that by 2030, Namibia will be an industrial country, and to be an industrial country you need energy."

There is no firm target date yet for the commissioning of the projected nuclear power plant; however this is likely to happen in the second half of the next decade - perhaps 2025 or 2027 - although an earlier date is not impossible.

In his address to the conference, also on Tuesday, Nghimtina pointed out that "Namibia produces large quantities of uranium, but struggles to meet its electricity needs."

The country currently generates about 400 MW of electricity, but this figure falls by some 35% during the dry season, because of the country's dependence on hydroelectricity and the reduction in the river flow during the dry period.

"There is a significant shortfall between local generation and local demand," he pointed out, with the result that Namibia imports as much as 60% of its power from South Africa and other Southern African Development Community Countries.

"Namibia has decided to diversify its energy mix."

The country's variable rainfall and frequent droughts (as well as occasional floods) were factors in causing Namibia to look at the option of nuclear energy. Namibia is now seeking to create a comprehensive legal framework for nuclear energy and set up an independent nuclear regulator.

Nghimtina praised French President Nicolas Sarkozy's announcements that he was going to press international financial institutions to provide financing for nuclear power projects and that France was going to set up an International Nuclear School.

(Keith Campbell is in Paris as a guest of the French government.)