Japan and South Korea are sharing their expertise in nuclear technology with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations amid strong interest from some ASEAN members to adopt nuclear as an energy source, a statement said Wednesday.
The message followed meetings Tuesday of ASEAN energy ministers and other ministers and officials from major countries outside the region in Brunei.
Senior ASEAN officials cited Japan and South Korea as the most active in approaching ASEAN members with their nuclear expertise.
The statement noted, “The ministers also welcomed (South) Korea’s continued contribution to capacity building in civilian nuclear energy, and Japan’s establishment of the Integrated Support Center for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Security.”
Peter Chin, Malaysian Minister of energy, green technology and water, said at a press conference Tuesday, “We are also looking at nuclear as an option, just in case in the future we find that we don’t have enough, then we have to consider using nuclear very prominently, otherwise we will be short of fuel.”
S. Iswaran, Singapore’s second minister for trade and industry, added, “Basically we take a medium to long term view of the energy needs within ASEAN. Most countries would at this stage say that nuclear energy is an option that should not be dismissed out of hand. It is something that we should study carefully and look at what the major possibilities are.”
An ASEAN official who requested anonymity told Kyodo News he thinks both Japan and South Korea are equally strong in nuclear technology, but Japan seems to have slightly fallen behind South Korea after the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
One problem is the nuclear technology used in most Japanese nuclear power plants is the same as that used in the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant while South Korea is mostly using another type of technology, he said.
In addition, South Korea has already made greater headway in collaborating on nuclear capacity building with ASEAN and already has a program for nuclear energy human resources development for ASEAN countries.
ASEAN is eager to boost cooperation with its dialogue partners, which include China, to gain their expertise in diversifying energy sources to ensure energy security amid volatile and uncertain energy markets and the rising demand for energy in the economically dynamic region.
Already several ASEAN countries have shown interest in nuclear power as a long term option.
Aside from Vietnam, which is developing a nuclear power plant with Russian technology, other ASEAN countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia have expressed interest and Singapore is doing a feasibility study on adopting nuclear power.
According to ASEAN official sources, ASEAN has agreed to focus on four priority areas for nuclear energy cooperation over the next two years — capacity building, promoting public acceptance of nuclear power as an alternative energy option, sharing best practices and engaging with dialogue partners.
Additionally, ASEAN aims to seek cooperation from the United States, European Union and Russia in capacity building for nuclear power.
The United States, which joined the East Asia Summit energy ministers meeting for the first time after being admitted to EAS last year, is also expected to play a key role in ASEAN’s moves toward nuclear power generation.
