Malaysia has started to look at the feasibility of utilising nuclear energy as part of the country's energy mix. This is due to the power sector facing a major challenge as declining gas production will have an impact on the power generation industry. Currently, 58% of power generated in Peninsular Malaysia is based on natural gas, with the remainder coming from coal (37%) and hydro (5%).
A foreign research analyst says the country has to look at other renewable energy options, such as nuclear energy, especially since rising coal prices were impacting the bottomline of the country's energy provider, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).
“It is unfair that TNB has to bear the brunt of rising coal prices without electricity tariffs moving up. What needs to be worked out is a proper cost-pass through mechanism,” she says.
However, she adds that renewable energies such as solar and wind depend very much on nature, which could impact the sustainable production of energy.
Under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), Malaysia is exploring the option of deploying nuclear energy to meet future demand and diversify the energy mix for Peninsular Malaysia. A Nuclear Power Development Steering Committee, headed by the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry, was set up in June 2009 to plan for the country's potential nuclear energy needs.
The committee will prepare a Nuclear Power Infrastructure Development Plan to be ready by 2013, of which the ETP says that a nuclear power pre-feasibility study and initial site selection study has already been undertaken.
The plan will lay out a development timeframe of 12 years from pre-project to commissioning of a twin-unit nuclear power plant with a total capacity of two gigawatts costing up to RM21.3bil, with the first unit to be operational by 2021.
The rational behind pushing nuclear energy adoption is that it would be cost-competitive, supplying the cheapest source of energy. Aside form this, nuclear power is a cleaner energy than coal and gas (zero grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kwh vs 800 and 400 grams respectively.)
While these details have been made known in the ETP, what many may be interested to note is that a key enabler to the nuclear energy project taking off is public acceptance.
Many quarters have expressed concern over the development of nuclear power plants locally, with political figureheads as well as environmental and consumers groups urging the government to re-consider other renewable energy options instead of adopting nuclear energy.
Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui said that the proposal to construct nuclear power plants for electricity has not been decided yet by the Cabinet.
The Environmental Protection Society Malaysia president Nithi Nesaduraio says that Malaysia does not need nuclear power plants, with such facilities left vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunamis and floods.
However, an industry source familiar with the country's nuclear development plans, says that it is premature to make any call on the impact to Malaysia's nuclear plan.
“Malaysia is not in an earthquake belt and the tsunami risk has been taken into account in the local nuclear power plant siting activity,” says the source.
It is good to point out here that the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power stations had shut off automatically after the earthquake but the emergency cooling systems failed to work after the tsunami damaged the plant's local backups. This has led the Japanese authorities to douse water onto the nuclear reactor from aerial and ground levels to keep it cool.
Back to Malaysia among the renewable energies up for consideration under the energy mix include hydro, solar and biomass. But the drawback of solar and biomass plants is that the energy output would pale in comparison to the output of nuclear power plants.
Dr Emir says a major constraint of renewable energy sources is availability.
For example, solar power supply is dependent on the availability of sunshine, which is constraint by climatic conditions, such as rain or clouds, and unavailable at night.
Hydropower is constraint by the catchment area and the size of the reservoir. The amount of electricity that could be generated by hydropower stations are limited by the volume of water that could be stored in the reservoir.
Dr Emir adds that to compensate for these constraints, redundant back-up electricity generation capacity need to be established, in the event that such renewable energy sources are not available in time of need. This would increase overall investment cost.
“Should Malaysia proceed with nuclear power plants, there needs to be an independent watchdog that is established to oversee the safety requirements on these plants,” says an industry observer.
As the world awaits to assess the potential damage from Japan's nuclear crisis, this may be the right time to reflect on the country's future energy mix and potential dependency on nuclear power.
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