By NNN-Bernama,
Kuala Lumpur : The use of nuclear energy, which is seen by the Malaysian government as an alternative method of generating electricity in future, is facing hurdles because of the people’s negative perception of this energy source.
The Dewan Negara (upper house of Parliament) was told Wednesday by Deputy Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Noriah Kasnon that this was because the public’s awareness on nuclear energy and its long-term benefits in terms of power generation was still low.
“Another hurdle the government might face is cost in view of the fact that it costs four times more to build a nuclear power plant compared with a coal-fired one, although many are not aware that in the long run nuclear energy is the most cost-effective besides being environment-friendly because no pollutants are produced,” she said.
The deputy minister was replying to a supplementary question from Senator Nor Hayati Onn who wanted know what was holding up development of nuclear power plants for electricity generation.
Noriah added that the people often became confused between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, which entailed a separate technology altogether.
Earlier, when replying to the original question from Senator Ahmad Hussin, Noriah had said that the government was conducting feasibility studies on the use of nuclear energy for electricity generation and that the findings were expected to be known by 2012.
Presently, gas contributes to 60 per cent of electricity generation in Malaysia while coal makes up 24 per cent and the rest based on hydro-power and biomass fuel.