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Kenya should tread carefully and not rush into investing in nuclear energy. Geothermal experts are now urging the government to instead invest, in the vast geothermal resources found in Kenya's rift valley system that has an estimated potential of 7000 megawatts. "Kenya should look for funds to invest fully in geothermal instead of nuclear energy, whereas nuclear energy is cheaper, it could be more devastating to the environment, we do not know what negative effects it might cause to generations to come," said Ludvik Georgsson of the United Nations University, Geothermal Training Program. Kenya's geothermal potential stands at an estimated 7,000 megawatts. However owing to the high cost of investment in the renewable energy the country has only managed to develop just under 130 megawatts, and now says Kenya could be assisted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD countries once the financial melt-down in pegged.

Kenya is seeking investors and technical knowledge to build a small nuclear plant to meet growing electricity needs, its energy minister said on Monday. East Africa's biggest economy can generate 1,100 megawatts of electricity compared with peak time demand of 1,050. That capacity includes emergency supplies from independent power producers. "We are thinking of a small plant to generate about 1,000 megawatts initially. From very rough castings, initially it will cost us about $1 billion," Kiraitu Murungi told reporters.

Kenya has been re-elected to the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after a 26 -year absence. This follows strong lobbying by a team led by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Higher Education Minister Sally Kosgei at the 53rd IAEA congress.

Police are holding a man after seizing a substance from him he said was uranium he smuggled into Kenya from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Acting on a tip, Flying Squad officers raided the house the man had rented in Nairobi's Uthiru estate on Friday afternoon, according to police sources. A suspected accomplice was arrested next door but not before the officers had to use tear gas to dislodge him.

Kenya must undertake a comprehensive assessment of her long-terma energy needs and exploit local resources before contemplating the construction of a nuclear plant, a nuclear expert has said. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) senior energy economist Dr Ferenc Toth, said the country might encounter enormous problems in financing a nuclear plant due to stringent conditions from international financers.

Your report on the gross energy inefficiency of the government estate (Government buildings emit more CO2 than all of Kenya, 23 December) should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched the obsession by energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, to make nuclear power a "solution" to our greenhouse gas emissions requirement. Even if new nuclear plants were to replace the entire "fleet" of current reactors, it would save at most 2-3% of our carbon emissions. But this obsession has diverted attention and investment from much more sustainable and effective ways of delivering the massive cuts in carbon that will be required. Last week, the government's own environmental watchdog, the Sustainable Development Commission, revealed that departments had overall seen their use of renewable electricity fall to 22% in 2007-08, down from 28% the previous year.