The report said:
Malaysia has approved a proposal to set up a nuclear power plant which will start operating from 2021, Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin announced today.
It is the first country in Southeast Asia to announce a nuclear power plant, a sensitive matter in the ASEAN grouping which has always espoused a nuclear-free zone.
Malaysia now relies on a combination of fossil fuels and hydro-power to generate electricity.
Chin said his ministry has been given the go-ahead by the Economic Council to start identifying suitable sites but declined to reveal possible sites or the total power to be delivered.
He only disclosed that the nuclear plant needed to be built in an area with high power demand, which could possibly mean in any of the industrialised states in the west coast.
“Building of the first plant needs a lead time of at least 10 years.
“We need to look at the safety aspects, human resources and the location,” he said, adding that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had the final say on whether the plant could be built.
Technology know-how and providers may possibly come from South Korea, China, France or Japan, the minister added.
Chin stressed that a nuclear plant was sorely needed to meet the country’s accelerating energy needs and ensured its energy security, an issue that is high on the agenda of most Asian nations now living with high oil prices.
“Nuclear energy is the only viable option toward our long term energy needs.
“Our energy mix is rather unhealthy. We are depending too much on coal and oil,” he told reporters after launching the first Carbon Neutral Conference on Sustainable Buildings South East Asia.
He also said despite nuclear energy’s astronomical start-up costs, it was more cost — and energy — efficient than dotting the country with coal-fired power plants.
The government would be ready to explain to the people the need for one to counter possible political and environmental fallout or uproar, he added.
Do we need a nuclear power plant? Does our country have the resources to make and manage a nuclear power plant? We already have far too many dams in the pipeline in East Malaysia and now they want to explore nuclear energy. Don't they remember that our country has huge gas reserves that have been untapped?
CLICK HERE to access 530 000 links about the dangers of nuclear plants. I wonder if
Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin is aware of the dangers. I find his title quite an irony - note the bold fonts. Green technology but advocating nuclear energy. A different kind of oxymoron indeed! What is wrong with this world???
Consider the following information taken from HERE:
DANGERS OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
There are many dangers in the use of nuclear power plants. The most prominent of these dangers include nuclear meltdowns; however, a variety of other problems can arise. There have been a number of situations in which these dangers have become real disasters, giving birth to safety and regulatory agencies.
Function
1. While nuclear power plants offer a substantial source of power, there are a wide variety of dangers associated with the use of nuclear power. These dangers have created a general fear of nuclear power plants across the United States and much of the world. Nuclear power plants are dangerous from the initial mining operations to gather uranium all the way through the final stages of disposing the byproducts safely. Many scientists are attempting to address these dangers; however, the risks are still prevalent in the technology.
Significance
2. The greatest fear about nuclear power plants is a severe accident in the nuclear reactor. When the whole system or an individual component of a nuclear power plant causes the reactor core to malfunction, it is known as a nuclear meltdown. This occurs most commonly when the sealed nuclear fuel assemblies that house the radioactive materials begin to overheat and melt. If the meltdown becomes too severe, the radioactive elements within the core can be released into the atmosphere and around the area of the power plant. These radioactive materials are highly toxic to all organic life.
Because of the geometric design of the reactor cores, a nuclear explosion is impossible; however, smaller explosions such as the release of steam are possible.
History
3. Nuclear meltdowns or disasters have occurred at various levels since the creation of nuclear power.
The first known partial core meltdown occurred in Ontario, Canada, in 1952. Various disasters occurred in the following years, including the release of radioactive elements into the air on at least four occasions.
The most significant disasters took place at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 and Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986. The Three Mile Island accident was a partial core meltdown of a pressurized water reactor. It resulted in the release of 43,000 curies of krypton and 20 curies of iodine-131 into the environment. The Chernobyl disaster reached a level 7 (major accident), according to the International Nuclear Event Scale. Following an initial steam explosion that killed two people, the reactor was destroyed and nuclear fallout was spread around the area. It was necessary to evacuate 600,000 people, and an estimated 4,000 died from radiation-induced cancers. CLICK HERE for more.
CLICK HERE for NUCLEAR ENERGY FACT SHEET.
CLICK HERE for THE PROBLEMS OF NUCLEAR POWER.
I am totally speechless, appalled, mortified and horrified at this revelation. Are they for real??? How can anyone be so absolutely detached from reality and rot in ignorance? How do you feel about this announcement?
Please leave a comment to share your thoughts/views. Thanks! Have a nice day!
Anonymous The ultimate perverse and bad joke!
What logic got, ah? Green Minister proposing the ultimate dirty energy!?
Truly a "sek si ngoh fan" rationale!
Chernobyl doth eagerly beckon.
~wits0~