WORLD HAS 440 NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS, 40 ONGOING NUCLEAR PROJECTS IN ASIA

From D.Arul Rajoo

MOSCOW, June 6 (Bernama) -- Asia, particularly, the Asia-Pacific remains the
main arena for nuclear energy expansion in the world, with at least 40 ongoing
projects, a nuclear conference was told today.

China, with the world’s biggest annual GDP and a thirst for power, has 24
ongoing projects and remains the number one as about 100 projects are on its
list of which many will be realised, said Dr Hooman Peimani, Principal Fellow &
Head Energy Security Division, Energy Studies Institute, National University of
Singapore.

Other countries with ongoing nuclear enery projects are South Korea (six),
India (four), Taiwan (two) while Pakistan, Japan, Iran and Vietnam have one
each.

Dr Peimani said demand for nuclear energy remains on the uptrend despite the
Fukushima nuclear plant crisis due to the earthquake and tsunami last March.

"The Fukushima incident has raised a global concern about the safety of
nuclear energy as people equate nuclear energy with accidents and disasters," he
said.

But according to him, the negative perception was due to exaggerated
reporting by the media and prevailing poor knowledge about nuclear energy
worldwide.

The fact is, he said, the world had seen six decades of power generation by
nuclear energy starting in the 1950s, and hundreds of nuclear power reactors in
operation globally since the 1950s.

He said there are 440 nuclear power reactors in use in 2011 and only three
significant accidents leading to the release of radioactive materials since the
1950s.

The nuclear incidents happened in February 1979 in Three Mile Island (USA),
April 1986 in Chernobyl (Russia) and March 2011 in Fukushima (Japan).

Despite the ongoing crisis in Fukushima, Dr Peimani said all the Asian
countries with an active nuclear program or a serious plan towards it, including
Japan, have reiterated their commitment to its continuity in the post-Fukushima
era.

He said only Thailand and the Philippines have declared a pause in the
nuclear programmes in the pre-Fukushima era.

Among reasons justifying the use of nuclear energy were the decreasing
reliance on imported fossil fuel, having financial, political and security
implications for the importers, as well as depletion of oil/gas/coal reserves in
fossil-energy-rich countries.

Furthermore, he said these countries were concerned with the instability,
change of governments and armed conflicts in many Arab countries, including
oil/gas exporters such as Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Oman and Yemen.

There are also worries that the conflict could expand to major Arab oil/gas
exporters like Kuwait, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, he said.