Zaini Ujang, the Secretary-general of the Ministry of Secretary General, Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Waterof Malaysia (Kementerian Tenaga, Teknologi Hijau dan Air, also known as KeTTHA) announced recently the government has no plan to build a nuclear power plant by 2030.
The government is instead looking for the renewable alternative energy with high-efficiency, low cost and controlled pollution. He added that Malaysia has recently approved five coal power plants and two of them are respectively located in Kedah and Johor.
The search for the alternative energy is also in line with the “anti-monopoly act” released by the Malaysian Government that does not want a unique operator for the country.
He emphasized that as Malaysia has no practical experience in the construction and operation of nuclear power plants.
The government sent a delegation to Japan for a filed study to analyze and select an appropriate way for its energy development.
During the vist, members of the delegation members wanted further clarification on the costs of the site selection, the public acceptance, the education of professional nuclear talents ther construction and the maintenance.
Dr Mohd Zamzam bin Jaafar, CEO of the Malaysia Nuclear Power Institute indicated that public acceptance is the largest hurdle if Malaysia wanted to build nuclear power plant.
Note: Dato’ Seri Ir. Dr Zaini Ujang is the Secretary General at the Ministry of Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water. Prof Dr Zaini was the fifth Vice-Chancellor of University Technology Malaysia (October 2008 – May 2013) and the first recipient of the prestigious Merdeka Award for the category of Outstanding Scholastics Achievement in 2009. His academic contributions are in the field of environmental management and technology, particularly water and wastewater treatment sustainable resource strategies and industrial ecology. Apart from his involvement in his academics, he also sits on various public agencies such as Chairman of Environmental Quality Council, Malaysia (since 2009), and member of National Water Services Commission (2007–2014).
Source : International Conference on Blue Ocean Strategy
