Malaysia tapping into nuclear energy sources

The New Straits Times 24 Sep 09;

KUCHING: Peninsular Malaysia needs a cheap source of efficient and reliable energy to feed the power-hungry, high-end technological industries, and nuclear energy is touted to provide this as opposed to relying on energy supplies from Sarawak.

Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Fadillah Yusof said even though Sarawak's 12 hydro-electric dams could produce enough energy to meet the nation's needs two decades from now, the need to feed the state's own energy-intensive industries might leave little power for the peninsula.

High energy-consuming industries like aluminium smelters and steel mills will be set up in the Sarawak Corridor for Renewable Energy development area.

"There is also the question of power loss. The transmission over long distance via the undersea cable means there is a load loss (before it reaches the first Tenaga Nasional transmission station in Johor)," Fadillah said at his Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house in Petra Jaya yesterday.

The undersea cable is 670km long.

"Sarawak may produce enough energy but once you go into high-end technology, which is the direction Malaysia is taking now, the energy supplied must be sufficient and efficient."

He said his ministry, together with the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry, was working out the proposal for the country's nuclear policy.