malaysia toward nuclear as energy sources

Malaysia has experienced strong economic growth in the last decades. Energy has been a key input to the development and growth of the country. Taking into account the growing energy consumption and domestic energy supply constraints, Malaysia has set sustainable development and diversification of energy sources. Malaysia faces complex choices as it looks to expand it energy mix to ensure its energy security. The electricity demand of Malaysia will increase by 4.7% per year over the outlook period, to reach 274 TWh in 2030.

The per capita electricity demand is projected to be double to 7571 kWh/person in 2030.

The electricity generation mixture consists of gas, coal and hydro-power as the major contributor and a few from oil as well as renewable source like biomass, solar and wind. The generation of electricity from fossil fuels is not just facing the depletion and escalation of prices, but also is a major and growing contributor of pollutants such as CO2, NOX, SO2 for global warming. Meanwhile most renewable sources are either not in full scale commercial capacity or had a significant consequence to the environment. Various environmental, cost and fossil fuel depletion issues have lead most nations including Malaysia, to re-look on the possibility of using nuclear as an energy source in the future as nuclear power plants have much longer lifespan and cleaner source of energy, vis-a-via fossil fuel plants.

Article from Berita Harian, May 26,2009, (pg 25)