nuclear-news

Nuclear power plans on the back burner in Southeast Asia

In Malaysia, the government has quietly put a proposal to build two 1,000 MW nuclear power plants “on the back burner,” said a senior government source.
The decision came after environmentalists targeted a plan by Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp to commission a processing plant in central Malaysia that would have to dispose of radioactive waste….

Analysis: Southeast Asia goes slow on nuclear, Reuters,  By John Ruwitch HANOI  Feb 2, 2012  ”…..Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore are among some 35 countries considering going down the nuclear path, likely doubling the number of operational reactors in the next few decades, according to Lloyds Register.

But even the most ambitious plans will run up against barriers and constraints. In most Southeast Asian countries where there is interest in nuclear power, politics are holding it back. Indonesia’s National Atomic Energy Agency has been researching reactors for more than four decades and preparing the human resources, but the political will is lacking.

“Everything is ready here, except for a political decision,” said
Ferhat Aziz, a spokesman for the agency. “Too many people think it is
too dangerous and too expensive so the key challenge is in people’s
minds.”

The story is similar in Thailand where, like Indonesia, energy demand
outstrips supply. The Thai Energy Ministry is drafting a plan that
could see a nuclear facility go into operation in 2026.

“The nuclear power plant project is still in the country’s power
development plan, but whether it will come into shape depends on the
acceptance of the public,” said Mongkol Sakulkao, deputy head of
policy and planning at state-run Electricity Generating Authority of
Thailand.

“If it is delayed further, they’ll come up with plans to find
alternative fuels to replace nuclear.”

BACK BURNER

In Malaysia, the government has quietly put a proposal to build two 1,000 MW nuclear power plants “on the back burner,” said a senior government source.
The decision came after environmentalists targeted a plan by Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp to commission a processing plant in central Malaysia that would have to dispose of radioactive waste….
It may be revisited some time down the line,” said the government
source who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the
issue.

Singapore is in the earliest stages of considering how nuclear power
might fit into its power mix, but seems unlikely to build a plant on
its own territory.

And in the Philippines, Fukushima gave pause to efforts to revive the
country’s white elephant, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which was
built in the early 1980s but never went into operation because it sits
on a tectonic fault and volcano.

February 3, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ASIA, Malaysia, politics