Five Asean countries going nuclear

The association of southeast Asian Nations (Asean) raised the signal during its summit in Cebu in 2007: Its member-nations would include nuclear power among the mix of energy to be able to sustain their increasing energy requirements as the countries are fast developing.

President Arroyo herself then said that the Asean leaders underscored the need to improve energy-use efficiency, and diversify energy supply through the development of alternative-energy sources, such as biofuels and “civilian nuclear power.”

Some of the Asean nations carried out their plan to go nuclear.

Five of the 10 Asean countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam—are moving for the construction of nuclear power plants in their respective countries, said visiting nuclear expert Dr. Sueo Machi, Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia (FNCA) coordinator of Japan and former commissioner of Japan Atomic Energy Commission. He spoke at the Public Seminar on Nuclear Energy by the FNCA at the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) headquarters in Quezon City.

The time frame for the start of operation of the nuclear power plants is from 2015 to 2021.

The Asean countries’ use of nuclear power “is very significant, very important in terms of energy security because it contributes to diverse energy sources,” Machi, a former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the BusinessMirror in an interview.

“It will be very important for their economic development because it enhances competitiveness,” he pointed out.

Machi said that nuclear power is suited to developing countries because it is around 14 times cheaper than solar power.

“Solar energy is very expensive; you need a big area for the panel. In Japan, if you have a 1-gigawatt [GW] power plant using solar [energy], you need the whole area of [34.5 kilometers circular] Yamanote [railway] line covered by solar panel. And in case of wind power, you need three times more area,” he explained.

He added that it is also “very important in terms of mitigation of carbon-dioxide [CO2] emission.”

Indonesia

Machi said in the interview that Indonesia—which is planning to put up its first two nuclear power plants of 1-GW capacity each in 2015 and 2017—is still awaiting the signing by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of a law that would provide for the establishment of a company that would put up and run the power plant.

Thailand

Thai officials have decided to construct two power plants—1 GW in 2020 and 1 GW in 2021—but it is yet subject to Cabinet approval.

Machi said documents are being prepared, “like a feasibility study,” to be submitted to the Cabinet in the first half of 2011.

He said nuclear experts in Thailand have already identified some “candidate sites” for the power plants.

Vietnam

The Vietnamese National Assembly approved in early December 2009, Machi said, the plan to have four nuclear power plants constructed in the socialist country at 1GW each in 2020 and 2021.

Experts have identified two sites with two power plants to be constructed on each site.

He said it took Vietnam almost five years before it was able to finally approve its plan.

Vietnam will have to determine next the design of the power plants based on the preliminary feasibility study made by experts.

“Now they will make a full feasibility study and design, including what type of reactor they will use—the pressurized-water reactor, boiling-water reactor, or Candu [Canada Deuterium Uranium] reactor. They will do detailed analysis of design in connection with costs and many other [concerns],” he said.

Malaysia

Of all the Asean countries planning to construct nuclear power plants, Malaysia “is a little bit behind,” Machi said.

It is still in the stage of doing a feasibility study, which will have to be approved by the Cabinet.

“[However], there are newspaper [reports] saying the [Malaysian] government is very positive on nuclear power. The public already knows it, but the Cabinet and Congress still have [to make the] final decision,” he said.

Philippines

Two decades after the 600-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) was mothballed, the Philippine government announced in July 2006, through its Science and Technology department, that nuclear energy is included in the long-term energy-development program of the Arroyo administration, an energy mix that also include fossil fuels, geothermal and renewable power.

This led to the National Power Corp. (Napocor) asking the Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) to conduct a feasibility study on the BNPP last year.

Napocor announced in December that Kepco has recommended that the BNPP could be rehabilitated. (Kepco has been running Kori 2, an “exact copy” of BNPP, for two decades already, making the Korean company an expert in the use of the same generation of power plant.)

Last week Napocor said it would decide on whether it would recommend the recommissioning of the 600-megawatt BNPP after Kepco has submitted this month the cost estimate and time frame needed to rehabilitate the power plant.

At the same time, Napocor president Froilan Tampinco said the state power agency is yet to decide on whether it will take part in the rehabilitation of the mothballed BNPP, which was never operated since its construction was finished in 1986.

He said Napocor prefers to do so with a legislative mandate.

A legislative measure, House Bill 6300, a consolidation of four bills calling for the recommissioning of the BNPP and asking for a $1-billion fund, is still pending in Congress. The bills, which stirred debates in and out of the House, have Tarlac Rep. Mark Cojuangco as one of the authors.

‘Difficult to understand why BNPP is not operating’

During the FNCA forum, Machi remarked: “It is difficult to understand why the Filipino people spent so much [$2.3 billion to construct BNPP], but could not open [it].”

“I think the crucial point is public acceptance. You [Philippine nuclear experts] have to have a good understanding and support by public to nuclear [power]. You [nuclear experts] must inform the people about the purpose of nuclear power, why you need nuclear power in this country. Maybe the people do not know,” Machi pointed out in the interview. “The public must be informed why you [the Philippines] need a nuclear power plant.”

The BNPP was mothballed in 1986 owing to opposition over its alleged structural defects, its being geologically unsafe, and the overprice and the corruption involved in its purchase.

But scientists have repeatedly belied the safety issues.

Nuclear experts said the BNPP structure is within international standards, a “Mercedes-Benz” of nuclear power plants, having been built to withstand earthquakes—as manifested by its having been unscathed by the Pinatubo Volcano eruption in 1991.

Likewise, Dr. Renato Solidum, director of Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, earlier said there is no active fault line in the area. And if a fault line exists, he said the BNPP could be reinforced “by engineering design.”

Early last year, Dr. Carlos Arcilla, director of the National Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of the Philippines, disclosed to the BusinessMirror an electrical resistivity survey he did with Bureau of Soils geologist Mario Collado, which concluded that “no distinct evidence of geological structures like fault and fractures are identified [beneath the nuclear power plant].”

Arcilla has said that since studies have shown that no fault exists under or near the BNPP, the issue “should be laid to rest.”

He added that the claim of volcanic danger to BNPP “is a nonissue,” saying that the two recorded eruptions of Mount Natib occurred 27,000 years and 60,000 years ago.

Global nuclear-power renaissance and climate change

The sharp rise of international oil prices in 2006 pushed governments worldwide to scramble for alternative-fuel sources. At the same time, international expert reports confirming that carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil fuels cause climate change, turned the search to fever-pitch—not only for alternative, but also for clean-energy sources.

Use of biofuels and renewable sources became fashionable. Nuclear power—which was practically ignored for two decades after the 1979 Three Mile Island and 1986 Chernobyl accidents—started its renaissance because besides being an energy source, it meets the requirement for a clean power source.

Nuclear power is among the popular options to cut carbon emissions because it emits virtually no greenhouse gases. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it produces only 2 grams to 6 grams of carbon per kilowatt-hour. Or about the same as wind or solar power, and less than 1 percent of carbon produced by coal, oil or natural gas.

Machi told the seminar that for the operation of a 1,000 MW power plant for one year, a nuclear-powered plant emits 0.15 million ton of CO2, while one powered by coal emits 6.51 million ton of CO2.

He added that replacing a 1 GW coal-power plant by nuclear power saves 6.4 million ton of CO2 a year.

He also pointed out that the operation of 55 nuclear power plants in Japan, saved about 20 percent of total CO2 emission in Japan, he said.

Intl nuclear power development

The IAEA website on December 2, 2009, show that there are 436 operational nuclear power reactors and 53 are under construction.

The increased interest in nuclear power now is best shown in the big number of power plants being constructed. In 2007, there were only 30 nuclear power plants under construction. As of December 2009 there were 56.

It should be noted that South Korea, which operates Kori 2—BNPP’s “sister” power plant and constructed at the same time as the latter—now has 20 nuclear power plants with six new ones being constructed.

At the same time, Japan—which is crisscrossed by earthquake faults—has 53 operational nuclear power plants and two are being constructed.

China, has 11 nuclear power plants, with 16 more being constructed. China’s nuclear power plant-construction binge is inspired by its fast-growing economy, which requires more energy.

India has 17 nuclear power plants, with six more under construction.

US has the biggest number with 104 operational nuclear power plants and one under construction. It is followed by France with 59 nuclear power plants and one more coming.

Bangladesh, one of the poor Asian countries, is in the early implementation of its planned two 600 MW nuclear power plant project.

As Machi said, Japan needs nuclear power to sustain the energy requirement by its industries and homes.

“For Japan to further contribute to world development, we need nuclear energy,” he said.

So do the Asean countries which have decided to power their growing economic development with nuclear energy.  –Lyn Resurreccion / Science Editor, Businessmirror