Li Xueying, Straits Times 6 Dec 08;
PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong does not rule out the possibility of Singapore having a nuclear power plant in the long term.
There would be difficulties, he acknowledged, because of the scale of such a project. At the same time, there would be safety issues. But technology may evolve so that such challenges can be resolved.
'I would not rule it out for the long term,' he said.
'I would not say never, because if global warming is a serious problem, if energy prices in the long term continue to rise, fuel prices continue to rise, and if you are worried about a carbon tax on top of that, then you have to seriously consider nuclear.'
Mr Lee's comments yesterday - in response to a question on whether Singapore has plans for nuclear power - are more positive than his stance a year ago, when he ruled it out as an option.
During the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali in December last year, he said nuclear energy was out because of the lack of a minimum 30km safety distance.
International standards require a 30km-wide safety zone around a nuclear plant.
This is an issue in small countries like Singapore, which stretches about 40km from east to west.
But Mr Lee said yesterday that technology may evolve, mitigating this consideration.
'Safety rules may evolve, there might be other possibilities such as putting it (a nuclear plant) underground,' he said.
This would help address the problem of safety - 'where we will put the plant, far enough away from dense concentrations of population'.
The Prime Minister, however, brought up another challenge.
'It is difficult to do because the scale is large, because when you talk about nuclear power plants, you are talking about a plant which can produce several gigawatts, and the Singapore market for electricity is not big enough to have such a big plant. That's one problem.'
He noted that nuclear power is an issue that 'many countries don't want to think about'.
'But we cannot put it off our mental map,' he said. 'We have to look ahead and be aware of the possibilities.'
Last month, a high-powered panel set up by the Trade and Industry Ministry to examine Singapore's energy policies said nuclear research, and even a nuclear power plant, could not be dismissed from Singapore's range of long-term solutions.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew had also revealed that the Government had thought about possible locations for such a plant: Pedra Branca island east of Singapore, or on a floating platform out at sea.
