http://www.power-eng.com/news/2011/10/1512234779/nuclear-power-back-from-the-cold.html ****
**** 10/02/2011**** **** *Nuclear power back from the cold***** **** By Michael Richardson, For The Straits Times**** **** THE catastrophic accident at Japan's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant earlier this year undermined confidence in, and support for, nuclear power around the world.**** The plant, which is located north of Tokyo on the Pacific coast, was hit ! by a series of explosions, fires and serious radiation leaks after a massive earthquake and the monster tsunami waves it generated cut external power to the plant, causing reactor fuel rods to heat up dangerously.**** It took several months to bring the nuclear crisis under control. Countries operating the world's 440 commercial reactors, and those with plans to use atomic power to generate electricity, paused to check safety and other risks. They had to ask whether nuclear energy was indeed more cost-effective than other alternatives, including renewable energy.**** **** Initially, it seemed that the Fukushima incident might severely constrain the future growth of civilian nuclear power, which generates about 14 per cent of global electricity supply. **** **** A number of advanced countries, includ! ing Germany, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland, have announced that they will phase out existing reactors and cancel plans for new ones. In South-east Asia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand either said they were no longer interested in nuclear technology or have indicated indefinite deferment of their nuclear plans. **** **** However, after this period of reconsideration, it is clear that nuclear power is far from dead.**** Last week, Vietnam confirmed that it would press ahead with an ambitious nuclear programme. It signed a deal with a consortium of Japanese reactor operators to conduct a feasibility study for two new reactors from Japan, in addition to two already contracted from Russia.**** The Vietnamese government has said that, by 2030, it plans to have 13 nuclear reactors running at eight ! separate plants with a combined capacity of 15,000 megawatts (MW), amounting to 7 per cent of Vietnam's total electricity generation capacity.**** Meanwhile, the new Japanese government under Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda wants nuclear power continued, despite increasing public opposition. The previous prime minister, Mr Naoto Kan, shocked at the scale of the Fukushima disaster, sought a phase-out. Mr Noda is determined to restart idled reactors by next summer to avoid power shortages that would undermine the economy. **** **** China said recently that it would start approving new nuclear power projects next year, after suspending them in the wake of the Fukushima accident. **** **** Beijing aims to increase nuclear power capacity to 40,000MW by 2015, from nearly 11,000MW last year. **** **** China, the world's second-biggest economy and one of its fastest-growing, has 14 operational nuclear reactors and is building more than two dozen others. This is about 40 per cent of all reactors being constructed worldwide.**** Before Fukushima, the International Atomic Energy Agency forecast that nuclear plants would add 360,000MW of generating capacity by 2035, the equivalent of 200 new reactors. It now estimates that there will be only half that number.**** However, many will be in developing nations, raising fresh concerns about safety and the possible spread of nuclear weapons.**** Only around 6 per cent of global nuclear power capacity today is in developing countries. It is confined to China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina a! nd Pakistan.**** But a recently updated report by the World Nuclear Association says that nuclear power is under serious consideration in more than 45 countries that do not have it. All but about a dozen are in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.**** In Saudi Arabia, a senior official said last week that the government planned to spend more than US$100 billion (S$129 billion) for 16 commercial reactors by 2030, with the first in operation by 2021.**** Developing countries opting for nuclear power cite the need to meet rapidly rising demand for electricity, conserve oil and gas supplies, and cut greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike fossil fuel power, reactors produce no carbon dioxide.**** However, Mr Pervez Hoodbhoy, a nuclear physicist in Pakista! n and critic of the country's nuclear policy, warns that some developing countries' interest could mask another objective: nuclear weapons.**** 'India and Pakistan built their weapon-making capacity around their civilian nuclear infrastructure,' he says. 'They were not the first and will not be the last.'**** Indeed, the technologies and expertise needed for peaceful uses of nuclear energy can form the basis of programmes to make nuclear bombs.**** So the spread of nuclear reactors into parts of the world where geopolitical tensions and rivalries are rife, including Asia and the Middle East, raises the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation.**** This makes it all the more imperative for countries adopting power reactors to have professional a! nd independent regulatory regimes - and a strong commitment to international non-proliferation measures.**** The writer is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.**** **** -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. 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