Published May 27, 2009

Rethink risky nuclear energy plants: Dr M

By S JAYASANKARAN
IN KUALA LUMPUR

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FORMER Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has urged the authorities to rethink the idea of using nuclear plants to generate cheap energy by 2020.

On Monday, it was reported that the head of Tenaga Nasional's nuclear unit Mohamad Zamzam Jaafar said that the national utility intended to hire Korea Electric Power Corporation to help it prepare a preliminary feasibility study for what would become Malaysia's first nuclear plant. He said an agreement was likely to be signed next month.

'Korea has about 20 plants,' Mr Zamzam reportedly said. 'They should be a good teacher for us.' Even so, the Malaysian Cabinet has not officially agreed to allow nuclear energy but Tenaga believes it is not only feasible but desirable by 2025 because much of Malaysia's gas reserves would have been exhausted by then.

Sixty per cent of Malaysia's power needs is currently met by burning gas. Nuclear energy, according to the utility, is also the cheapest option. Tenaga wants the government to agree by 2013 as it would take that long to get a reactor up and running by 2020.

Dr Mahathir appeared to want to head the utility off by posing the question: why did his administration expressly exclude nuclear energy as an option and allow only a mix of fuel oil, gas, coal or hydro power instead?

The former premier listed Russia's Chernobyl disaster as an example. 'Despite thousands of tonnes of concrete being poured into the site, the power plant is still emitting dangerous radiation,' he noted.

And he posed the question of what to do with the radioactive waste. 'The waste cannot be disposed of anywhere - not by burial in the ground nor dumping in the sea,' Dr Mahathir wrote in his blog yesterday. 'It can be reprocessed by certain countries only. This requires the dangerous material to be transported in special lead containers and carried by special ships. Most ports do not allow such ships to be berthed at their facilities.'

'The fact is that we do not know enough about radioactive nuclear material,' said Dr Mahathir. ' I think the authorities should rethink the idea of nuclear power plants. Scientists do not know enough about dealing with nuclear waste. They do not know enough about nuclear accidents and how to deal with them. Until we do, it is far better if Malaysia avoids using nuclear power.'

Dr Mahathir's exhortations are likely to resonate among Malaysian communities, many of whose residents now display a keen sense of activism where the environment in their neighbourhoods is concerned.

Example: federal government plans for an industrial-sized incinerator slated for the village of Broga in Selangor were shelved after its residents protested and then threatened to sue, citing fears of environmental contamination.