AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has to turn to nuclear power as an alternative source of electricity for its rapidly growing economy, an official from a nuclear agency said.
Noramly Muslim, the chairman of the Malaysian Nuclear Licensing Board, said Malaysia would need at least two nuclear reactors, state Bernama news agency reported.
He said nuclear energy was seen as the best alternative to depleting oil and gas, Malaysia's main fuels for power generation.
“To develop a nuclear reactor, we need some 15 years. Indonesia has already started its nuclear program in the 1960s,” Noramly said.
He added the government planned on using nuclear energy to generate power after 2020 but that the schedule could be accelerated.
Noramly said that Indonesia and Thailand will be using nuclear energy in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
In July the government indicated that Malaysia could turn to nuclear power to reduce its dependence on oil.
Bernama quoted the deputy vice-chancellor of a Malaysian university, Sukiman Sarmani, as saying scientists in the country were just waiting for the “green light” from the government to jump-start a nuclear program.
“I don't think Malaysia will face opposition from the global community. Our case and Iran's are different. Our uranium enrichment process might be done in another country and then imported,” Sukiman said.
“Whether we like it or not, the world would have to depend on nuclear from 2020 onwards until 2070,” he said.
Sukiman said the government was also developing technology to harness wind and solar power to produce electricity by 2050 or 2070.
Malaysia is an oil-exporter, but in June Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the era of “cheap oil” was over and that the world faced an energy crisis as emerging economies and developed nations competed for scarce resources.
Malaysia had promoted the use of natural gas to reduce dependence on oil under a fuel diversification policy started in 1981. Coal and hydroelectric power are the other main sources of electricity.
