Malaysian environmentalists and opposition leaders yesterday slammed the government’s plan to build a nuclear power plant, calling it a risky and unnecessary venture.
Energy Minister Peter Chin announced on Tuesday the government’s in-principle approval for a nuclear plant, due to operate from 2021, as an efficient and cost-effective means to fuel economic growth.
Prime Minister Najib Razak said in his blog that Malaysia will start identifying sites for the country’s first nuclear power plant but no decision has been taken on whether to proceed.
‘Our non-renewable natural resources are finite,’ Mr Najib said. ‘Eventually, the supply will end. In this regard, our current fuel mix for power generation in Malaysia is skewed too much in favour of natural gas and coal.’
Malaysia will join neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam, which have unveiled plans to operate their first nuclear power plants by 2020, while Indonesia plans to build its own on Java island by 2015. Even Singapore has not ruled out nuclear power.
The opposition Democratic Action Party said there was no need for nuclear power because Malaysia has a 40 per cent energy reserve margin, double the government’s target of 20 per cent.
In addition, it said, several large hydroelectric dams are being built on Borneo island to cater to future demands. ‘Clearly Malaysia has more energy than it needs …why then does Malaysia need a nuclear power plant?’ the party’s secretary-general, Mr Lim Guan Eng, said in a statement.
He also expressed concerns for safety and the environment, citing the 1986 Chernobyl reactor explosion that sent a cloud of radiation over much of Europe and left some two million people ill.
Malaysian officials maintain the plan is crucial for long-term energy security in view of a growing population and future economic expansion, but say they will conduct feasibility studies before deciding.
Malaysia uses coal and natural gas to generate most of its electricity, and the government has warned the cost of relying on both will spiral in the decades ahead.
The Centre for Environment, Technology and Development, a local think-tank, warned that nuclear power was capital intensive and risky because it generates radioactive waste that has to be discarded. Its chairman, Mr Gurmit Singh, said there is a lot of energy wastage in the country as petrol, diesel and electricity are subsidised. He urged the government to bolster energy efficiency and turn to other renewable sources like wind and solar power.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, there are more than 430 nuclear power plants operating in some 30 countries worldwide, accounting for about 15 per cent of global electricity output.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, BERNAMA
