Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Alvin Tan, explained further in Parliament on 4 April about the nuclear energy plans of Singapore.
He said that the Energy 2050 Committee report that was released last month is setting out a few energy options for the power sector of Singapore to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by around the year 2050.
Potential options include hydrogen, geothermal and nuclear energy.
Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy, which is more viable than solar energy and derived from the heat inside the earth, is adversely affected by Singapore’s unpredictable weather as well as the cloud cover.
However, advances in geothermal technology could see Singapore potentially harnessing geothermal heat from deep underground, and NTU is conducting studies at the moment to estimate the geothermal resource potential in parts of Singapore.
Nuclear energy
One other option is nuclear energy, with a feasibility study conducted in 2012 by the government found that conventional large reactor technologies are not suitable for the country.
But new designs have since been developed (or are being developed), like small modular reactors with better safety.
Tan said that there is a new type of nuclear energy called nuclear fusion technology, which is seeing significant interest.
Nuclear fusion technology doesn’t cause chain reactions and doesn’t produce radioactive waste, unlike the older nuclear plants which use nuclear fusion technology.
Tan said:
“Hence, nuclear fusion power plants can, at least theoretically, produce clean electricity to meet our energy needs.
Many of these advanced geothermal and nuclear technologies are still in the research and development phase and have not begun commercial operations yet.
So we will need to consider any decision to deploy new energy technologies against its safety, reliability, affordability, and environmental sustainability in Singapore’s context.
All these technologies must meet stringent standards of critical infrastructure resilience, in line with international best practices of developed countries, which have experience in ensuring the safety of such power plants.
And given the technical complexity of nuclear energy technologies, we will need to continue building our ability to better understand and assess the safety, security and environmental implications before we consider them for deployment in Singapore.”
Nuclear energy research being supported
The Singapore government is supporting relevant research of nuclear policy, science and engineering, as well as international efforts to strengthen global nuclear safety.
Singapore is also working with the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as other ASEAN member countries to help improve the preparedness of the region to a potential nuclear emergency.
Tan said that “the government will carefully study the recommendations in the committee’s report and calibrate our plans accordingly, as technologies evolve. In the meantime, we will continue to enhance energy efficiency across all sectors and encourage consumers to play their part to conserve energy.”
MP Ang Wei Neng highlighted the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in 2011, asking how the government will make sure that similar incidents won’t happen in Singapore.
Tan then replied that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants were constructed in the late 60s and used older nuclear fission technology, which is unsuitable for Singapore.
He also added that nuclear fusion technology, which is being developed around the world, has the potential to be safer.