An 11-member team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, who have been in Nairobi for a feasibility study on critical areas of the energy source, has given an initial green-light. IAEA team leader in charge of infrastructure development Josi Bastos said Kenya is on the right track as most of the required basics to begin the process have been addressed. "Kenya has a notable progress in the development of this programme with several studies already done and a lot of knowledge acquired in a very short period of time; We think that Kenya is well prepared to move forward with this nuclear power programme. A few things need to be concluded and others planned for the second phase of the project," Mr Bastos said. The experts, however, emphasised the need for regulatory infrastructure if the country is to implement the plan smoothly. A full report from the team will be released in November after incorporating input from the country's concerned authorities. Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board, which is spearheading the plans welcomed the preliminary findings released yesterday allaying fears that the country may not have adequate security to host reactor plants. KNEB Executive Chairman and chief executive Ochilo Ayacko said the recommendations add to the speedy implementation of the nuclear energy plan with an expectation to make Kenya competitive in attracting investments. PLANNING WAY AHEAD "Our peers in the continent including Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana are all considering nuclear power generation. All these countries are already generating more than 10 times the power Kenya generates and we have a lot of competitive products coming to our country from these markets. We have to begin planning way ahead and be competitive," Mr Ayacko said. Addition of the nuclear source of energy into Kenya's generation mix is expected to provide the much-needed power security and affordability. The government's plan to lower the cost of energy seems to have met headwinds even after the cheaper geothermal sources overtook all the other sources following the injection of at least 280 megawatts of the power to the grid. Last week, Energy and Petroleum Principal Secretary Joseph Njoroge said the country's population is growing fast and the available energy sourcing options were fast depleting hence the decision to go nuclear. "If you look at other countries the size of Kenya, our energy demand in the next decade will be close to 50,000 Megawatts. Our base sources like geothermal which is the base load can only give us about 20,000MW, we have to diversify," Mr Njoroge said. Only South Africa has an operational nuclear power generator on the continent while Egypt and Nigeria have both began the roll out plans. Kenya's potential nuclear plant may be set up by 2025 according to Mr Njoroge who also said the journey towards generating nuclear energy started close to five decades ago.