Draft 4: Summary reader response
In the article, “How Can Southeast Asia’s Clean Energy Transition Be Sped Up?” Daubach (2019) proposed ways to promote green energy production and the areas that need to be improved in the region. Moniz, the Chief Executive of Energy Futures Initiative and Nuclear Threat Initiative, mentioned that the region is required to deploy a wide variety of low carbon technologies and solutions to electricity generation to reduce emissions. The author also mentioned that Singapore is a land-scarce country that might benefit from nuclear fusion or use hydrogen as a zero-emissions fuel for vehicles and energy storage. Besides, he reported that the usage of coal, which is the biggest source of greenhouse emissions had increased in 2018. He added that improving efficiency requirements would reduce electrical consumptions. The article stated that nuclear fusion might benefit Southeast Asia. However, it is not practical for Southeast Asian countries like Singapore to adopt nuclear fusion because Singapore does not have a strategic location, nuclear fusion is not environmentally friendly, and is expensive to build.
One reason why nuclear fusion is not practical in Singapore is because of the country's high population density. For a nuclear power reactor to be constructed in Singapore, locating a safe site would be essential given that Singapore is a densely populated country, where any disaster that may occur would disrupt the entire economy. In my opinion, given the country's geographical size, the global standard of an adequate safety radius between the facility and the population can never be met. (Boh, 2019) mentioned that building a nuclear power plant in Singapore is not suitable as it needs to have at least a 30km safety radius. Buildings, roads, houses, and economic activity are prohibited within this radius. This assertion is further supported by Phua (2016) who stated that although Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011 was built on a strategically safe location, nuclear tragedy still happened and that safety can never be guaranteed.
Another reason nuclear fusion is not practical in Singapore is that it poses an environmental risk to people's health. In addition to nuclear energy production, used nuclear fuel entails radioactivity, nuclear waste must meet standards and regulations to ensure long-term safety for the environment, human health, and all living things. In the article, "Nuclear Power Trend in Southeast Asia and Its Contested Discourses On Climate Change," Manpati (2020) stated that the downside of nuclear power is the disposal of hazardous radioactive waste. The disposal may take up to 50-100 years following the most common disposal method, deep geology disposal. Without the proper disposal method of radioactive waste, human health and the environment are exposed to very high levels of radiation and poses a threat to our wellbeing.
The last reason why nuclear fusion is impractical in Singapore is because of the high cost of constructing nuclear energy facilities. Construction of nuclear facilities will most likely face a cost overrun as the long-lasting construction time takes an average of 10.1 years to build (Schneider, 2017, p.15). Nuclear energy is an expensive endeavor and makes no sense in terms of the need to act immediately in order to mitigate the crisis of climate change. Daubach (2019) mentioned that Moniz said Southeast Asian countries need more innovation to "reduce cost in power". This means that nuclear power is falling behind renewables in terms of cost and capacity as it is less economical and slower to reverse carbon emissions. Currently, there are much cheaper renewable energy options compared to nuclear fusion, and hence is why it is not practical for Singapore to pursue nuclear fusion.
Although Daubach (2019) suggested that nuclear fusion may seem to be a solution to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, he did not consider that not all countries have viable requirements to implement one.
References:
Boh, S. (2019, July 22) Will Singapore Warm Up to Nuclear Energy to Combat Climate Change? South China Morning Post.
Daubach, T. (2019, July 19). How Can Southeast Asia’s Clean Energy Transition Be Sped Up? Eco-Business.
https://www.eco-business.com/news/how-can-southeast-asias-clean-energy-transition-be-sped-up/
Manpati, T. (2020, Nov 9). Nuclear Power Trend In Southeast Asia and Its Contested Discourses on Climate Change. Heinreich Boell Foundation.
https://th.boell.org/en/2020/11/09/nuclear-power-trend-southeast-asia
Nuclear Energy Too Slow, Too Expensive to Save Climate. (2019, Sep 24). Business Insiders.
Phua, D. (2015, Oct 26). Reconsidering Nuclear Energy for Singapore. IPScommons.
https://ipscommons.sg/reconsidering-nuclear-energy-for-singapore/
Schneider, A Mycle. (2017) The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2017.
https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/IMG/pdf/20170912wnisr2017-en-lr.pdf
Thank you, Dzu, for the revision.
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