Sri Lanka is moving towards harnessing nuclear energy as a source of power, to switch over to lesser-cost power- generation plants.
In his address at the 54th sessions of the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) in Vienna, Sri Lankan Minister of Power and Energy Patali Champika Ranawaka said the island-nation’s government had approved a proposal from its Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) to conduct a feasibility study of using nuclear energy as a viable option for power-generation post-2020 with technical co-operation of the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
He said the AEA Act was being upgraded to meet present and future requirements in nuclear power-generation, nuclear-terrorism, environmental-protection, nuclear-safety and nuclear-security.
Earlier this week, Power and Energy Ministry Secretary M.M.C. Ferdinando said Sri Lanka was hoping to have its first nuclear power plant to go online within the next two decades.
“The Government, in its search for lesser-cost fuels, has decided to look into the possibility of tapping nuclear power, and a feasibility study would be conducted soon to assess whether we can set up a plant with around 1GW capacity,” he said Monday.
The exact location, the magnitude and other matters relating to the project would have to be ascertained from the feasibility study, he said, pointing out that unlike starting other power projects, a country had to get clearance from the IAEA for installing nuclear power plants.
“But if you were to have a nuclear plant by 2030, you have to start now itself,” he added.
