Safety laws not ready for nuclear project

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NUCLEAR
Safety laws not ready for nuclear project
By Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation 2011-08-10

Thailand is not ready to go ahead with its plan to build nuclear power plant because the government has not yet issued safety laws regulating the operation of such a plant, Energy Ministry's deputy permanent secretary Kurujit Nakornthap said.

"The government has not certified a nuclear safety law for power plants that would answer the standards of the international nuclear agency," he said.

Kurujit was speaking at a public seminar entitled "The accident of Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant and the impact to the country's power management policy" organised by the Energy Ministry. About 100 participants from various power agencies attended.

Since the accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant last March, Thailand's government decided to postpone its plans to build a nuclear power plant for three more years.

The plan to build a nuclear power plant was aimed at producing electricity from an alternative energy source, as the government hopes to reduce the use of natural gas by 2030.

To prepare for a nuclear power plant operation in the next three years, Kurujit said the government has to prepare skilled and knowledgeable experts to run it.

"We need persons who can control the operation and not just run a nuclear power plant," he said.

Moreover, the government needs to set up a neutral organisation to oversee the operation.

"This neutral organisation must run without intervention from any person…giving more concern to the safety of nuclear power operations," he added

The coordinator of the "Thai people don't want nuclear power plants network", Sodsai Sawangsok said people living around the future nuclear power plant construction site near Sirindhorn dam in Ubon Ratchatani were now worried about their future. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) continues to send staff to tell them about the plan to build a nuclear power plant there, even though the government has suspended it.

Sodsai and her colleagues from the network attended yesterday's public seminar and shared her experiences in Japan, including an international conference entitled "No Nuke Asia Forum 2011" from July 29.

She spoke with local people affected by the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant and found most still feared the sideeffects of nuclear power radiation contamination.

A Fukushima villager, Oka Ayako, said the Japanese government had not warned her about radiation. People learned from the media how to protect themselves from nuclear contamination. Even residents who had a book manual to explain about preparing for a nuclear accident found it did not help them much when the accident took place.