NGO pushes alternatives to nuclear

Efficiency and cutting demand help more

    •    Published: 22/10/2009 at 12:00 AM

    •    Newspaper section: Business

    •   

The development of nuclear power plants by 2020 should be reconsidered, environmental activists urged the government.

The government should work on developing technology that improves energy consumption instead of building new power plants that could trigger another problem, said Chuenchom S. Greecen, an energy researcher from the Palang Thai Group, at a discussion on nuclear power plant development at Government House on Tuesday.

"There are a lot of things that can improve the country's energy consumption efficiency, such as the estimation of demand to reflect actual growth of demand. Also the redesign of electrical equipment for large buildings will help cut power consumption," she said.

"It may not be necessary to build nuclear and coal-fired power plants if policymakers try energy-saving programmes."

More aggressive promotions for renewable energy will also reduce power demand.

Chalotorn Kansuntisukmongkol, an economist from Thammasat University, said safety measures were crucial for nuclear power development regarding reactor leakage and radioactive waste management if a plant is built.

However, Chavalit Pichalai, deputy director-general of the Energy Policy and Planning Office, argued that improved energy efficiency is already a top priority for energy policymakers.

Leaders are trying to develop alternative and renewable fuel use through subsidies and incentives, Mr Chavalit said.

"We are promoting renewable energy, but we have to focus on how to cut carbon emissions by using nuclear energy because it is one of the cleanest and cheapest options," he said. "The production cost of wind turbines and solar cells remains high and cannot compete with mainstream fuels, so we decided to develop the nuclear power plant project."The above statement by Chavalit Pichalai is a Dam Lie. 

Thailand is now conducting a feasibility study for nuclear power plants by Burns and Roe Asia Ltd. The final decision on whether the country will build a nuclear power plant will be made mid-2010.

Chom Greacen is a public interest electricity sector analyst. From 1999 to 2003 she worked as a policy analyst with Thailand's Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO), where her responsibilities focused on details of country's electricity policy reform process. A recipient of the prestigious Thailand "King's Scholarship", she studied environmental engineering at Dartmouth College and has a MS from ERG at U.C. Berkeley.Chom is one of founders of Palang Thai, Link: http://www.palangthai.orgThe following PPT slides are from a presentation "Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency in Thailand"5 Oct 09 by Chom Greacen. This PPT is availble for download at the "Docs" section Palang Thai website. In the USA, fat lazy Americans are changing ways, much more use of energy efficiency & renewable energy.Thailand's black death energy plan.DSM is almost the same as Energy Efficiency costing 2.1 cents kWh, Nuclear power costing  8.2 cents kWh , today electrical power from nukes costs much more.Thailand past Energy Efficiency programs cost 0.5026 Baht kWh. My guess is Nuke power today would cost 5 to 7 Baht kWh.How many big electric motors in Bangkok? How much electric power can saved by using more efficient electric motors?Cost PV solar power continues to drop. I'm pretty sure that there's 13.7 sq.Km of roof space available in Thailand to install PV solar power. Khop Khun Khap Chom, I hope Khun Thai fight for a clean, green, and beautiful Thailand.      

>The government should work on developing technology that improves energy consumption instead of building new power plants that could trigger another problem, said >Chuenchom S. Greecen, an energy researcher from the Palang Thai Group, at a discussion on nuclear power plant development at Government House on Tuesday.

Anyone who believes Thailand is not going to need more capacity in the future, is not living in the real world.

With the cost of building a nuclear plant compared to any other source, there is much more room for huge amounts of graft, concequently nuclear will be pushed heavily. There is very little, if any, room for graft with efficency, and conservation measures, so there is very little real work to bring them about.

There?s another serious problem with the government-will-just-buy-nuclear assertion. France is

commonly cited by nuclear advocates as the model of having done everything right in organizing

and managing its nuclear program. Yet its unique and impressive achievements have not saved

the French program from serious operational and financial stress, nor from major and continu-

ing escalation in both real capital costs and construction times. Analyzing for the first time the

long-secret official cost data on French nuclear construction recently revealed83 that during

1970?2000, French reactor-builders suffered ~3.5× escalation in real capital cost per kilowatt,

and in the 1990s, from major stretching of construction schedules. Thus the world?s best-organ-

ized and most dirigiste nuclear power program has not been immunized from bad economics. From RMI.

Nuclear power didn't solve France's electrical power problems. Though Distributed energy, energy efficiency, Smart Grid, and renewables Thailand could meet todays energy needs and have room for economic growth. California from 1995 to 2005 used the same amount electrical power and the economy grew at a 5% rate per year. They did that by implementing a strong Energy Efficiency and DSM policy

Californians pay on average $1,000 less per year per household for electricity than the rest of the U.S.

See my post "The Nuclear Myth",

http://www.thailandfriends.com/index.php?name=DB_phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=16100&sid=fb14f4f54903b009eb897e352adbfdea&&sid=fb14f4f54903b009eb897e352adbfdea

From RMI:

Decentralized sources provide from one-sixth to more than half of all electricity in a dozen industrial countries and, together with more efficient use, deliver the majority of the world?s new electrical services.

Booming orders did lately raise wind-turbine and photovoltaic prices too, but they?re headed back down as capacity catches up; PVs got one-fourth cheaper just in the past year, and reactor-scale PV farms compete successfully in California power auctions. New U.S. wind farms??firmed? to provide reliable power even if becalmed?sell electricity at less than typical wholesale prices, or at a third to a half the cost utilities project for new nuclear plants.