Asia sticks to nuclear energy amid public fears

Asia sticks to nuclear energy amid public fears

BANGKOK (AFP): Asian nations said on Monday they were committed to developing more nuclear power plants but admitted they would have to overcome public fears surrounding the risks of atomic energy.

At Asia's first forum on nuclear cooperation, Japan, China and South Korea said they planned to expand the number of plants in their countries to meet growing energy needs.

And the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam confirmed their intentions to embark on nuclear power generation to fuel their hoped-for economic expansion.

Japan's nuclear program is still recovering from the effects of an accident at a uranium processing plant last year that killed two workers exposed hundreds of local residents to radiation.

"It was a big setback. We lost public confidence but we have taken several measures to overcome that," said Toru Nakahara, an official from Japan's Science and Technology Agency.

Japan's 51 operational reactors produce 35 percent of the country's energy needs and officials say this figure will increase as it cuts down carbon emissions in line with commitments to international treaties.

"In order to achieve that goal we believe nuclear power plants could play a great role," said Nakahara.

One of the main obstacles to increased use of nuclear power in Asia is the fear that nuclear power poses a major threat to public safety and that regional governments are not equipped to cope with accidents.

"We are not allowed to have a serious accident ever again. Unlike the aircraft industry we cannot have an accident every year," said Qian Jihui representing the UN-sponsored International Atomic Energy Agency.

However, he said he believed that nuclear power would nevertheless enjoy a resurgence due to the seriousness of global warming and the need to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

Philippines delegate Filemon Uriarte said the planned introduction of nuclear power there after 2020 could only be done "after conducting a full-blown information campaign on the merits of nuclear as an energy option."

Indonesia's stalled nuclear power program, which began in 1965 with the construction of the country's first research reactor in Bandung, is still on track to be revived, government officials said.

"Based on demand we could start in 2011. Most probably we would need six years to complete the reactor. So a decision would have to be made in 2005 to go ahead," said Bakrie Arbie from the Indonesian Atomic Agency.

Protests against nuclear power generation are held periodically around Asia, in a clear sign of popular opposition to the technology.

In Taiwan on Sunday, some 50,000 anti-nuclear activists defied rains and marched through the capital and southern Kaohsiung city in support of a government decision to scrap a partly built nuclear power plant.

And on the opening session here Friday of the First Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia, a group of protesters confronted delegates as they arrived.

Among the demonstrators were two Thai men whose hands were badly burned in a radiation leak in February, where a piece of radiology equipment was mistakenly given to scrap merchants.

The leak, which left three people dead, "shows how inefficient governments are in handling the results of these accidents," said protester Ida Arooung. "They keep promoting this technology but they can't afford to handle it."