The Government is looking at building the country's first nuclear plant for power generation in the next nine years. It has already laid before parliament a bill on the establishment of an autonomous body to help with the operation, financing and regulating the plant. Minister for Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah said the move has been necessitated by the country's increasing energy needs. He told Joy News, government is putting in place measures to address safety, cost and environmental concerns. “We have to put in place a legal framework meeting all international standards. We have to work and to ensure that we have done a very extensive environmental impact. We have to work on the process of licensing and make sure we …meet all the international protocols…,” he explained. The Energy and Petroleum minister added that the country's quest to construct the nuclear plant is “for peaceful purposes to help grow our economy." He added that, "It is very clear that access to electricity is now a critical constraint that we will really prevent our country from getting to where we want to be,” considering the fact that the country has exhausted all its big rivers. The Government has already signed an MOU with Russia to help with the construction of the proposed plant.