Thursday, May 6, 2010

The Never Ending Debate...

The announcement by Energy, Green Technology, and Water Minister that Malaysia is earnestly planning to have its first nuclear power plant operating in 2021 (see previous posting), as expected, initiates the usual response from those opposing the idea of having nuclear power plant in the country. This newsreport seems to be the starter.
Normally this type of response is the first that we see or read; as if it is programmed to automatically react, like reflect actions, to that kind of announcement.
Chernobyl has never been left out as an exemplary danger we would be facing. It is pictured as a certainty. That lessons have been learned and nuclear reactors are getting safer do not seem to make sense. That other countries have been operating tens of nuclear reactors safely seems to be conveniently forgotten.
Japan, the country that experienced first hand the effects of the bombs, not once, but twice, is not shying away from it. It is now 30 percent nuclear electricity. The Repbulic of Korea is 40 percent nuclear electricity. The world is 14 percent nuclear electricity. These facts are conveniently forgotten as well.
 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

yess..we opt to use nuclear power for electricity..but i just wonder..are we ready for that??if the answer is ready, then how 'ready' is ready??i'm talking about our competency & attitude to response on this matter..

NK Rashid said...

thanks for thinking together on this topic.. the state of readiness can be achieved through careful planning and successful implementation of the plan.. there are guidelines on determining this state of readiness, for example the IAEA Milestones for NPP introduction (http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1305_web.pdf), or we can learn fro those already there - emulate what works, avoid pitfalls...

Anonymous said...

again i agree on the careful planning but have doubt in successful implementation..why??i've seen around people whom claim themselves are very 'close' to the nuclear, but in the 'real world', they not even know nor understand what the 'nuclear' is...i think 'something' should be done to 'save' nuclear in the agency..apart from that, i agree that we could always learn from others who have success in nuclear such as japan, korea, france, etc..

NK Rashid said...

agreeable..