Asia-Pacific

Malaysia to build nuclear power plant: official

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-04 16:06

KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian government has approved the construction of a nuclear power plant which is expected to start operation by 2021 to meet the country's power demand in the future.

Malaysian Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui made this remark here on Tuesday after officiating the First Carbon Neutral Conference on Sustainable Buildings South East Asia.

According to the minister, using nuclear to generate power was inevitable in Malaysia as the use of coal and gas to generate power could no longer meet the country's energy demand, given that the resources were depleting.

There was also limited land where dams could be built for the operations of hydro power plants, added Chin.

Chin said that instead of building small fossil- or gas-powered energy plants all around the country, it would be better to just build a costly but efficient nuclear power plant.

While there were disputes on whether nuclear power was considered green, Chin said that at least nuclear is renewable.

Stressing that Malaysia would use nuclear for power generation instead of weapons manufacturing, Chin said that the nuclear plant would abide by stringent standards so that safety was not compromised.

The minister said that the country's energy generation mix was unhealthy where most of the energy came from the burning of coal and gas, while solar and hydro power contributed only a small chunk of the total electricity generated.

He also said that a country's economic growth could not be halted without energy, and therefore, looking at long-term, deploying nuclear for power generation was the only viable option.

Chin refused to reveal the cost and site of the nuclear plant, but he said that every safety aspect would be taken care of, as the site chosen was subject to the approval of the International Atomic Energy Agency.