Posted on 18 Jun 2008
Regional cooperation with Asean countries on nuclear power
development in
Energy Ministry deputy permanent secretary Norkun
Sitthiphong said yesterday that Asean countries have sent a clear signal to
allow nuclear power development in
"Now we have five countries with a clear policy to
develop nuclear power for electricity generation," he said. "There
have been no concerns from the remaining five, which, as of now, have no plans
for nuclear plants.
What we can say today about the stand of Asean towards
nuclear power development in the region is there should be no problem as long
as we comply with International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]'s standards."
The countries with nuclear plans apart from
"
During the Asean+3 Forum on Nuclear Energy Safety this week
in Bangkok, Norkun said an IAEA senior official had agreed to help Thailand in
training human resources required for a nuclear power plant, if Thailand
decided to go for nuclear power in the next three years.
"There are 19 checklists for
Norkun said that
"We will finalise the decision on the company soon and
the study should begin from next month and continue for two years. After that
we would know for sure where the nuclear plant should be sited as well as its
initial costs," he said.
Meanwhile, yesterday morning, activists from Greenpeace
Southeast Asia held a protest in front of the Plaza Athenee Hotel, the venue of
the Asean+3 nuclear forum.
"Nuclear is not the answer but renewable energy is.
Asian countries should not push its people into a high risk, complicated and
expensive choice like nuclear power. It also cannot help solve the climate
change crisis," Greenpeace's climate campaigner Thara Buakhamsri said
before submitting a protest letter to a representative of the Energy Ministry
at the meeting.
In
