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."