Transforming Africa4Nuclear Competition into World
Ultimate Nuclear Ambassadors Fellowship
Tibyan Mustafa,1 Everlyne Achieng 2, Edgar John3, Ahmad Obaid1 and Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu4.
1
Sudanese Nuclear and Regulatory Authority, Khartoum, Sudan, 111111, Tibyanmustafa@gmail.com
Kenyan Young Generation in Nuclear, Nairobi, Kenya, 00100, everlyneachieng4@gmail.com
3
Tanzanian Young Generation in Nuclear, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, 11000, edgar.john32@gmail.com
4
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, 810103, saliyu749@gmail.com
I. INTRODUCTION
Nuclear and the applications of radiation has always been
helpful to mankind in so many ways. Unfortunately, many
people hold a wrong impression of what nuclear energy is, and
this could be attributed to many factors like the detonation of
the 'little boy' and 'fat man' in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
respectively [1]. Other factors May include nuclear accidents,
TV series against Nuclear and some political propaganda.
Many groups and organizations are working tirelessly
towards portraying the good image of Nuclear energy and also
raise public awareness as regards to the benefits and various
applications of nuclear, most importantly in the generation of
electricity using Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) [2]. Nuclear
Power is an essential tool that could be used in fighting climate
change and also aid industrialization in developing countries.
As young nuclear professionals who are passionate about
fighting climate change and eager to see developing nations
meet their energy needs in order to fulfil their industrialization
dream, we strongly believe that speaking up for nuclear is
necessary and that led to proposing the Africa4Nuclear
competition to the African Young Generation in Nuclear
(AYGN) and it was accepted. The competition engaged youths
across the continent in the Nuclear Science and Technology
(NST) conversations. The participants performed wonderfully,
a brief description of the work of the winning team would form
a part of this paper. After the success of the competition, the
idea of transforming the competition into a fellowship program
came up. This paper gives details of how the fellowship
program can be established.
II. AFRICA4NUCLEAR COMPETITION
Africa4Nuclear competition was hosted by African Young
Generation in Nuclear (AYGN) with support from International
Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC). The competition aimed at
raising awareness about the benefits of Nuclear Science and
Technology. The competition was part of the 3rd African Youth
Nuclear Summit (AYNS2021), held in Accra, titled “The
Impact of Nuclear Applications for Economic Growth Post
COVID-19". Also, the competition engaged young people have
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across the African continent in Nuclear Science and
Technology conversations. The participants were required to
form a team of not more than three persons and to develop a
communication plan that consist of their objectives, 3 key
messages and not more than 5 activities that they intend to
execute in order to promote nuclear science and technology in
Africa. The communication plan of seven teams got accepted;
three teams from Sudan, two from Nigeria, one from Burkina
Faso and another one from Tanzania. Upon receiving the
communication from AYGN that they were shortlisted; the
teams were required to implement the plan within a space of
three months. The teams were required to capture the moments
of all their activities with their cellphones by taking pictures
and/or short videos. They were instructed to produce a short
video (1:30mins) showing snippets of them at work
implementing the activities in their communication plan. Three
finalists were selected out of the teams and were invited to
present their videos at the AYNS2021, were the team from
Tanzania emerged as the winner. Creativity was displayed and
A4N competition was a success.
Below is the highlight of the activities carried out by the
winning team:
1. Visited University (KNUST-Ghana)
2. Visited Secondary Schools.
3. Conducted a Nuclear seminar to university leaders.
4. Establishment of Nuclear clubs in secondary schools.
5. Engaged the public via social media through posing
questions and polls.
6. Organized radio program for four weeks one hour each
week. The estimated amount of people who listened to
this is twenty thousand.
N.B: Languages used were English, French and Swahili
 Figure 1: A visit to KNUST Ghana
III. WORLD ULTIMATE NUCLEAR AMBASSADORS FELLOWSHIP
Figure 2: Visiting Secondary Schools
(Establishment of Clubs).
Figure 3: Visiting Secondary Schools
Figure 4: Broadcasting at a National Radio
Station
It is obvious that some obstacles obstructing nuclear energy
is fear and public misconceptions [3]. AYGN engaged youths
in wading away those fears and clarifying some of these
misconceptions through the africa4nuclear communication
competition. it became evident that young people are passionate
about speaking up for nuclear and their messages could change
the wrong perception of the majority of African populace as
regards to NST. however, since public misconception of nuclear
is a global issue, africa4nuclear could be transformed into a
global fellowship program with aim of grooming young
professionals on how to clarify nuclear misconceptions.
AYGN and IYNC could collaborate with other relevant
organizations in lunching this fellowship program. application
should be opened to young professionals between the age of 18
and 30, the selection will be based on commitment to nuclear
industry, personal statement and probably a virtual interview.
subject matter experts with extra ordinary communication skills
should be engaged in teaching fellows the basic concepts of
NST, why it is needed in our lives, and best ways to
communicate it to the public, politicians, investors, policy
makers and external stakeholders. each fellow should be paired
with an expert to serve as his/her mentor throughout the
program with a minimum of two virtual contacts per month. the
fellowship should include series of tasks to last for six month
and a proposed project at end. best three projects could be
sponsored and implemented under the umbrella of IYNC.
IV. CONCLUSION
Lack of proper awareness and public misconception is one
of the challenges facing NST and its applications. One of the
efforts made by AYGN in addressing this issue is organizing the
Africa4Nuclear competition. The competition engaged in
communicating the benefits of NST and also clarifying nuclear
misconceptions. For global impact, it is recommended the
competition be transformed into an International fellowship
program where young nuclear professionals will be groomed on
best practices of nuclear communications. This will go a long
way in correcting most nuclear misconceptions and also raise
awareness as regards to the benefits of NST. It is anticipated
that IYNC will accept and implement the proposed program.

V. REFERENCES
[1] The History of Nuclear Energy. U.S. Energy
Department. Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and
Technology, Washington, D.C. 20685.
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/The-
Historyof-Nuclear-Energy_0.pdf
[2] M. Simoncic and G. Zurga, Social, Responsible
communication of Nuclear Power Plant with External
Stakeholders. International Journal for Nuclear
Power, Vol. 61, issue 11, 2016.
[3] S. R. Weart, Images of Nuclear: Why People feel the
way they do. Special Report, International Atomic
Energy Agency Bulletin, 1991.