Nuclear power can be safe for Singapore: expert

By Angela Lim – August 3rd, 2010

A senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency believes that nuclear plants
in urban, populated areas like Singapore is a viable option.

Responding to questions at a public lecture at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,
IAEA director-general Yukiya Amano said nuclear plants need not be built a great
distance from a populated area to ensure they are safe.

Rather, taking measures to contain risks of accidents is a better way to manage the safety
of such plants.

Earlier this year, Singapore embarked on a feasibility study on the possibility of turning
to nuclear energy — an option that many countries in the region are considering amid the
rising demand for energy.

“There is not such a rule in the IAEA that a nuclear power plant should be constructed
some distance from a populated area,” said Mr Amano.

He cites two examples of nuclear power plants built close to urban areas in Japan to
illustrate his point. One is the Shimane plant, located just 10km from built-up areas in the
town of Kashima-chou in Matsue city in Shimane prefecture. The other, Tokai No.2, sits
15km from populated areas in the town of Tokai.

Addressing safety concerns, Mr Amano said that although it was not possible to eliminate
risks of accidents completely, these should be contained in three ways to give “credible
assurance of safety”.

Firstly, the design of reactors is much safer now and more advanced than it was, reducing
the risk of a Chernobyl-like disaster in Ukraine, which killed 56 and caused thousands
more cancer deaths.

The second measure is to have well-trained people maintaining the plants and third,
having good construction work.

“It is like a house: even though the design is nice, if the construction work is sloppy, then
the plant is not good,” he explained.

What, then, of the disposal of dangerous nuclear waste?

Mr Amano revealed that the technology for safe disposal of high-level nuclear waste is
available, but relatively unknown. He said the IAEA plans to disseminate this
information more actively so countries can make more informed decisions, adding
that nuclear energy also contributes less to pollution than conventional fuels.

However, in a question Yahoo! Answers posed earlier this year on “Is nuclear power a
viable option for Singapore?”, a vast majority of the 500 or so respondents expressed
concern about the potential dangers of having nuclear plants on such a small island.

Users like Stargazer95 wrote, “Unless the nuclear power plant is located far off the
waters of Singapore, radiation could harm us. Nuclear waste can take a long time to
degenerate completely.”

Others like Naturopath added, “Nuclear energy is not ideal. Singaporeans should go for
sustainable energy like solar, hydro and wind energy as alternative. We would literally
benefit from free resources from nature. Nuclear power is just too dangerous and costly.
What are the consumers going to pay in the end in terms of energy consumption, nuclear
hazard and impact on health?”

On the other hand, some users like MRA and FatMan, felt that nuclear energy could be a
“viable” and “long-term” solution to depleting energy sources.