Iran and China to the rescue as UN clears Zimbabwe nuclear energy project

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, who have been in the country for a week, on Thursday approved Zimbabwe's application for its nuclear power station.
The 2 000MW facility is to be built at a cost of $3 billion on a 200-acre plot in Chishawasha, about 50km from Harare, and is expected to satisfy all of Zimbabwe's energy needs until 2040.
The formal agreement is expected to be signed between the IAEA and the government in the next two weeks.
Already the government is in talks with the Iran and China, which will supervise the construction and train technicians and other experts to run the plant.
Li Gangjie, chief of China's National Nuclear Safety Administration, flies in next week for consultations with the government committee in charge of the project.
Officials from the Harare Metropolitan ministry under which the projects falls told reporters that the construction of the plant will start early next month and is expected to be completed by September 2012.
"We are hitting the ground running, we have brought in top nuclear engineers from Iran and Asia for the construction work beginning May," said a top ministry official who declined to be named because she is not the spokesperson.
A 50km shaft will be dug into the ground at Chishawasha to store the nuclear waste.
The management of radioactive waste is one of the greatest problems of nuclear energy. It is stored until such a time in the future when the technology will exist to dispose of it.
Once complete, the nuclear power plant is expected to provide 100 per cent of the country's electricity needs, making Zimbabwe the world's biggest consumer of nuclear energy ahead of France which derives 80 per cent of its electricity from nuclear sources and the United States, which obtains only 19 per cent of its electricity from the same. Some of the electricity will be exported to countries in the region like Botswana and Namibia.
A debate has been raging globally about the safety of nuclear energy in the wake of the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last month, destroying nuclear reactors at the Fukushima power plant and triggering radiation fears.
The inspectors are expected to certify that Zimbabwe can adhere to all the international conventions on peaceful use of nuclear technology that it has ratified, the official said.
The conventions include the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, IAEA Additional Protocol, Small Quantities Protocol and Comprehensive Safety Agreement.
The world's chief nuclear inspector, Mr Yukiya Amano is expected in the country on and possibly for the signing of the agreement with Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's total requirement stands at 2 000MW, but the country is currently generating around 1 100MW.
The country imports 150MW from Mozambique and another 125MW from Zambia in a bid to ease power shortages.
The state-owned Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority inability over the years to boost generation capacity at its ageing power stations and a critical shortage of foreign currency to import adequate electricity from neighbouring countries has left Zimbabwe grappling with severe power shortages.
The government energy utility has previously said cash-rich foreign investors remain reluctant to provide funding badly needed to boost power generation because of uncertainty about the country's future political and economic direction.
But Energy Minister Mangoma once said said Zimbabwe's risk factor was no longer as high as before and said this coupled with viable tariffs since introduction of the US dollar and other foreign currencies in place of the local dollars was drawing investors into the energy sector where potential for growth is high