Sunday September 21, 2008

Malaysia to go nuclear by 2023

channelnewsasia.com :

Malaysia will turn to nuclear energy to generate electricity by 2023 as supplies of fossil fuel eventually run out, Energy, Water and Communications Minister Shaziman Mansor said. The use of nuclear energy was also an alternative to counter high global oil prices. "I will be briefing the cabinet in a fortnight. We have no choice but to start the ball rolling," he said. "You cannot say you want to use nuclear power in the next few months, and expect everything to be in place."

State utility Tenaga has said it could construct the country's first 1,000 MW nuclear power plant at a cost of US$3.1 billion after being asked by the government to look at the option amid surging global oil prices and the country's limited supply of oil and natural gas. Currently, half of Malaysia's power plants run on gas. Other sources include coal and hydropower.

- It is interesting how the original article was titled "Malaysia to resort to nuclear energy by 2023" and it shows how titles can have a big impact on reader perceptions. Putting "to resort to" might imply that there is no other choice, just like that Malaysian minister said.

But then, realistically speaking, there are really not many other choices if what one is looking for is a reliable supply of baseload electricity. I've gone through this before and more than once, but if you want electrical power that's available at least 90% of the time, at the current state of the art, you basically have a choice of fossil fuels (fuel or diesel oil, natural gas, coal), nuclear, and perhaps hydro and geothermal, the last two being limited to a small sub-set of suitable geographical locations.

That's it. Barring a technological revolution in grid-scale battery backup of electrical power, the effective generating capacity of intermittent sources such as wind and solar will remain at only around 20%. Nuclear power is the logical next step for an energy-hungry economy, and in time that will give way to the logical next step : space-based solar power.

See also :

1. Malaysia looking at building its first nuclear power plant
2. Malaysia "needs to develop nuclear energy"
3. Malaysia requires two nuclear reactors to generate electricity
4. Developing countries eye nuclear power: report

(2008-09-21 11:16:08 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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