Planned nuclear plant in a Kenyan top tourist hub and home to endangered species sparks protest

KILIFI, Kenya — 

Dozens rallied against a proposal to build Kenya's first nuclear power plant in one of the country's top coastal tourist hubs which also houses a forest on the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Kilifi County is renowned for its pristine sandy beaches where hotels and beach bars line the 165-mile-long coast and visitors boat and snorkel around coral reefs or bird watch in Arabuko Sokoke forest, a significant natural habitat for the conservation of rare and endangered species, according to the U.N. organization.

The nuclear plant, proposed last year, is set to be built in the town of Kilifi — about 522 kilometers (324 miles) southeast of the capital, Nairobi. Many residents have openly opposed the proposal, worried about what they say are the negative effects of the project on people and the environment, leading to a string of protests which at times turned violent.

The Muslims for Human Rights group (MUHURI) took part in a march Friday in Kilifi to the county governor's office where protesters handed him a petition opposing the construction of the plant.

Some chanted anti-nuclear slogans while others carried placards with "Sitaki nuclear", Swahili for "I don't want nuclear."

The construction of the 1,000MW nuclear plant is set to begin in 2027 and be operational by 2034, at a cost of 500 billion Kenyan shillings ($3.8 billion).

Francis Auma, a MUHURI activist, told the Associated Press that the negative effects of the nuclear plant outweigh its benefits.

"We say that this project has a lot of negative effects; there will be malformed children born out of this place, fish will die, and our forest Arabuko Sokoke, known to harbor the birds from abroad, will be lost," Auma said during Friday's protests.

Juma Sulubu, a resident who was beaten by the police during a previous demonstration, attended Friday's march and said: "Even if you kill us, just kill us, but we do not want a nuclear power plant in our Uyombo community."

Timothy Nyawa, a fisherman, participated in the rally out of fear that a nuclear power plant would kill fish and in turn his source of income. "If they set up a nuclear plant here, the fish breeding sites will all be destroyed."

Phyllis Omido, the executive director at the Centre for Justice Governance and Environmental Action, which organized the protest, said Kenya's eastern coastal towns depended on eco-tourism as the main source of income and a nuclear plant would threaten their livelihoods.

"We host the only East African coastal forest, we host the Watamu marine park, we host the largest mangrove plantation in Kenya. We do not want nuclear (energy) to mess up our ecosystem," she said.

Her center filed a petition in Nov. 2023 in parliament calling for an inquiry and claiming that locals had limited information on the proposed plant and the criteria for selecting preferred sites. It raised concerns over the risks to health, the environment and tourism in the event of a nuclear spill, saying the country was undertaking a "high-risk venture" without proper legal and disaster response measures in place. The petition also expressed unease over security and the handling of radioactive waste in a country prone to floods and drought.

The Senate suspended the inquiry until a lawsuit two lawyers filed in July was heard. The suit is seeking to stop the plant's construction, claiming public participation meetings were rushed. It urges the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (Nupea) not to start the project.

Nupea said construction would not begin for years and environmental laws were under consideration, adding that adequate public participation was carried out.

The nuclear agency also published an impact assessment report last year that recommended policies be put in place to ensure environmental protections, including detailed plans for the handling of radioactive waste, measures to mitigate environmental harm, such as setting up a nuclear unit in the national environment management authority, and emergency response teams.

Cover photo: Demonstrators hold banners reading in Swahili "Sitaki nuclear" (I don't want nuclear), during an anti-nuclear protest in Kilifi, Kenya, Oct. 11, 2024.