An inaugural meeting on Asean nuclear energy cooperation in Singapore next month could see the region potentially moving towards some sharing of nuclear power in the longer term.
An energy player here, for instance, had earlier suggested that cooperation could take the form of Singapore building a nuclear plant with its neighbours.
But it is still early days, as the coming Feb 18 meeting of the Asean Nuclear Energy Cooperation Sub Sector Network is its first since the body was endorsed by the Asean Energy Ministers meeting in Vietnam last July. The meeting involves the grouping’s senior energy officials at this stage.
Currently, the region already has an Asean emergency petroleum sharing scheme for crude oil and products in times of both shortages and surplus, and has activated this once. And it is also working towards building an integrated Asean power grid as well as a trans-Asean gas pipeline.
The coming meeting on nuclear energy cooperation, hosted by Singapore’s Energy Market Authority, is timely given the spate of announcements in the last two months by regional countries to build such plants.
Asean had also earlier set up a nuclear energy safety sub-sector network to study safety issues.
Last November, Vietnam signed a US$5.6 billion deal with Russia to build the country’s first nuclear power plant, expected to be operational around 2020.
Indonesia also disclosed plans to build two nuclear plants on Pulau Bangka, a large island to the south-east of Batam.
Just last month, Malaysia also said that it wanted to build two nuclear plants that will generate 1,000 megawatts each, with the first ready for operation in 2021.
Meanwhile, Singapore has started studying the feasibility of having a nuclear power plant, although Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has stressed that safety was a major concern because of the Republic’s high urban density. He also said that it would be a long time before any decision is made on nuclear energy here.
Edwin Khew, chairman of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore, suggested that a nuclear reactor - which would be clean and efficient, and have a low carbon footprint - could perhaps be built on a Tekong-size island accessible to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
‘If you look at the fact that they’re talking about an Asean (power) grid, this will be a perfect project to put on a common island.’
