Renaissance Dam

[Sverker]

I read a newspaper article about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and I marvel at the size of the problem. Ethiopia needs electricity and Egypt needs water. You can't deny either. I just got this idea that a couple of nuclear power stations would solve this problem. Is it still too late - could somebody please build them for Ethiopia?

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

I read a newspaper article about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and I marvel at the size of the problem. Ethiopia needs electricity and Egypt needs water. You can't deny either. I just got this idea that a couple of nuclear power stations would solve this problem. Is it still too late - could somebody please build them for Ethiopia?

Ethiopia I expect is going to use the water as well for irrigation, it does suffer from droughts on a regular basis

 

[MamboDervish]

I read a newspaper article about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and I marvel at the size of the problem. Ethiopia needs electricity and Egypt needs water. You can't deny either. I just got this idea that a couple of nuclear power stations would solve this problem. Is it still too late - could somebody please build them for Ethiopia?

Hydroelectric damns only restrict water until the reservoir behind them is full. After that, the water flows through the turbines, through the floodgates, over the spillway, or all three. If Ethiopia is smart, they will stage the building of, and release of water, in such a way as to ease downstream suffering. Nothing to be gained by making enemies.

Nuclear risks are not a solution.

 

[Sverker]

Nuclear risks are not a solution.

Sad that you view it this way. Effectively managed, nuclear power has very little risk. Other power plants have their risks, too. Just think of a big dam collapsing!

 

[MamboDervish]

Sad that you view it this way. Effectively managed, nuclear power has very little risk. Other power plants have their risks, too. Just think of a big dam collapsing!

Funny you should use the phrase "effectively managed" - and then proceed to "big dam collapsing!" When was the last time an "effectively managed" big dam collapsed?
Hint: That would be never.

But nuclear accidents take generations to clean up, and even then toxic traces remain.

 

[C MAN]

I read a newspaper article about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and I marvel at the size of the problem. Ethiopia needs electricity and Egypt needs water. You can't deny either. I just got this idea that a couple of nuclear power stations would solve this problem. Is it still too late - could somebody please build them for Ethiopia?

America, China, Russia, or even Iran all are capable and I pray one will step up.

 

[joluoto]

A dam at Lake Tana has been in talks for ages. In the colonial era the British wanted to build one to control the flow of the Nile and thus have a tighter hold over Egypt and Sudan. Today it's about electricity but also about access to water, something of course Egypt and Sudan still need.

 

[Grand Mal]

I read a newspaper article about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and I marvel at the size of the problem. Ethiopia needs electricity and Egypt needs water. You can't deny either. I just got this idea that a couple of nuclear power stations would solve this problem. Is it still too late - could somebody please build them for Ethiopia?

Speaks well of Ethiopia that water flow to Egypt is a concern. The Colorado River no longer flows into Mexico- it's bone dry at the border.