Singapore assembling team of experts on nuclear energy

EMA team will look into technical, economic feasibility
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 29 Apr 10;

(SINGAPORE) Singapore is starting to assemble a team of experts to study the option of using nuclear energy here eventually. This follows last month's announcement that the Trade and Industry Ministry will lead the multi-agency effort starting this year.

'It's still early days,' said one source when asked about the components of the team and how big it will be, although preparations are already underway.

At the Energy Market Authority end - whose regulatory role was recently enlarged to include energy industry development - recruitment of analysts/sen- ior analysts and engineers/ senior engineers for the study has begun. The engineers are required to have paper for either nuclear engineering, nuclear/atomic science or nuclear/atomic physics.

Their job description: they will be 'responsible for planning and managing the conduct of a technical and economic feasibility study on nuclear energy, with a view to enhancing Singapore's understanding of it as a possible long-term energy option'.

Their work will involve 'liaising with relevant stakeholders within the energy sector, and working with independent consultants and international organisations to perform environmental, safety, security, financing, legal, regulatory and other relevant analyses in support of the study'.

Reinforcing the multi-agency approach, the EMA analysts and engineers will also 'be responsible for interfacing and coordinating with a range of government agencies in Singapore for the feasibility study, and drawing up appropriate policy implications for Singapore'.

Further afield, 'they will need to build contacts and relationships with the relevant energy companies and regulatory bodies in the nuclear sector, in order to accelerate Singapore's understanding of the industry'.

Underlining this, the Singapore government said in its position paper at the summit on nuclear security in Washington earlier this month that 'Singapore has not ruled out nuclear energy to meet our needs and will soon embark on a feasibility study which will entail a careful and rigorous examination of the technical, economic and safety aspects of nuclear energy.'

'This process is still at a preliminary stage, but we will enhance our cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and nuclear suppliers as our study progresses,' the paper issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry added.

In an interview with BT last September, EMA chief executive Lawrence Wong also said that while nuclear is clean from a carbon point of view, there are several issues to be addressed.

'Safety is one. Where do we locate the plant and make sure it's safe?' he asked.

The second is scale, he said. 'Current nuclear plants are in the region of 1-2 gigawatts. Singapore's entire (electricity) demand is only about 6 gigawatts. So when you have a plant that is one-sixth to one-third of demand, how will our small electricity market be able to accommodate such a sizeable plant? What happens when the plant goes on maintenance? Where do you find the back-up to it?'

On a positive note, recent reports have indicated that smaller, safer and cheaper nuclear reactors are starting to be developed in countries like the US, Russia, Japan and South Korea, and these could potentially be suitable for use here.