Cambodia eyes nuclear plant for electricity

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Impoverished Cambodia hopes to build a nuclear power plant to meet its future energy needs and help offset its dependence on imported oil, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced Friday during the first meeting of his new Cabinet.

In outlining his new government's vision, he said one of its priorities will be to expand electrical generation to power its small but growing economy. Increased housing and factory construction will generate more demand for electricity, he said.

Hun Sen offered no hint when Cambodia would actually have its first nuclear power plant, saying it is still "a long distance away for us, but this is our goal."

Building hydroelectricity and coal power plants will be the immediate priority for expanding electricity generation and reducing reliance on imported oil, Hun Sen said.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hPClAGFkDJP2Ckgo8LqPqnXFRBxAD93EBDA82

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Well, it looks like the Bush administration has a new war to fight...

[FreakinDJ]

1. Nuclear Power - not just for Terrorist any more

[Indenturedebtor]

2. I love Cambodia but it's probably the most profoundly f'd up country i've been to

Seriously, this concerns me... Here's a picture from Cambodia.



Psst look at the billboard. I imagine it says "Share a hand grenade with your friend".

[Coventina]

3. Argh!! NO!

That is a billboard encouraging people to turn in their weapons!

After decades of civil war, there are a lot of guns and ammo floating around the country, and the consequences are often tragic, especially for the children.

The government is running a campaign trying to assure people that their lives are no longer in danger and that they can surrender their weapons, at last.

I won't disagree that it is an "f'd up country" but please be fair to the poor, suffering populace.

How long were you there and where did you go?

[Indenturedebtor]

4. I know I shouldn't have made light of such a mess - though I wasn't insulting the populace

We were only there for about a week and a half. We took a bus over from Chiang Mai Thailand to Angkor Wat. The people were especially wonderful in Cambodia, and we actually made a couple of friends right away which is something that my wife and I generally try to avoid.

Anyways I worry that things are not stable enough in that country for nuclear fuel and secrets to be floating around all over the place.

[Coventina]

6. Thanks for the kind response.

I'm not a big fan of nuclear power myself, but it's looking more and more like it's our only real option, at least for the short term (I'm speaking globally here).

[Indenturedebtor]

7. I dunno, there is definately a debate about that. Consider checking out our Environment/Energy foru

There are a lot of issues with nuclear power. Here are a few of them:

1) Just as with oil, economically feasible (easy to recover) Uranium isn't exactly everywhere. If everyone switched to nuclear power it would get more expensive very quickly and it isn't exaclty cheap as it is. In fact most Nuclear plants are at least in part supported with subsidies. And again you shift the balance of power geopolitically. Russia I think has the most Uranium.
2) What do you do with the spent fuel? Spent fuel rods can be used to make atomic bombs, and they take thousands of years to degrade. In the mean time if the containers degrade you might have toxic crap leaking into your water supply. But first you have to transport all of this highly radioactive garbage. And you risk an accident there. You could treat the waste to either use it again or make it degrade faster, but then you're just adding even more cost.
3) Because reactors are not profitable financing is difficult to come by.
4) Nuclear plants need a massive supply of water... water is becoming more valuable and harder to come by daily
5) Nuclear plants are centralised - as opposed to renewable energy sources like wind power and solar you have to build reactors far away from communities and then distribute the electricity from there. You lose more and more energy the further you have to send it.

I'm certainly no expert but there are some good reasons why we haven't built a Nuclear plant in I think over 20 years. For Cambodia this may be the best way to go to meet their energy needs because of the monsoons and haze, lack of really windy areas, lack of good access to tidal, lack of geothermal... I dunno. But here in America it is my opinion that Nuclear is only a slightly better option than coal.

[Coventina]

8. Oh, believe me I would much rather go with wind & solar

Or tidal!

No argument from me at all. It just seems like all those technologies are moving along much too slowly. Well, maybe an Obama administration will speed it up!!

[Indenturedebtor]

9. Actually they're all ready to go! We just need to put some money behind them.

The costs are even to the point where companies are implementing them.

[Coventina]

10. That's good news! I guess I don't keep up on this stuff as much as I should.

:thumbsup:

[clixtox]

5. Vietnam is also considering the possible construction...

of a nuclear reactor to generate electricity. I don't know how serious the VN government is about this but the electricity usage is increasing much faster than the electricity providers can generate more. The French, and who knows who else, are behind the scenes trying to create a "buzz" for the idea.

A lot of electricity is imported from China now. The Vietnamese are starting to get serious about domestic sourcing of renewable energy now and they are blessed with a lot of wind, sunshine and a very long coastline.

Ho Chi Minh City has unscheduled power outages regularly and relies on hydroelectric power which can be fickle during the dry season.

VN is just finishing the construction of their first oil refinery, due to come online in early 2009, with another domestic oil refinery starting construction this month. The Vietnamese are pumping a lot of crude off the coast now but it has to be sent elsewhere for refining and then re-imported as fuels and chemicals.