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View all search resultsDoes Southeast Asia’s nuclear energy plan consider risks?
Some studies argue that the way of thinking and practices on risk management in energy sectors in Southeast Asia remain relatively low.
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uclear energy has the potential to be part of the energy mix plan in the post-pandemic era in Southeast Asia. To complete the plan, the problem of radioactive (or nuclear) waste must be anticipated. It is an important component in managing risks from nuclear power plants.
Radioactive waste is a byproduct of nuclear reactors, fuel processing plants. Radioactive waste is also generated while decommissioning and dismantling nuclear reactors and other nuclear facilities.
The radioactivity of nuclear waste lasts for at least 10,000 years, so nuclear waste must be stored for a long period that raises many ethical questions and issues. Building storage for this waste requires an ability to envision what society, the environment and their interaction would be like in 10,000 years and more. This is not an easy practice and may lie beyond human imagination, as illustrated from examples in Finland and the Netherlands.
Finland is the first country to build a final disposal facility for nuclear waste. In 2004, in Eurajoki, the first geological final disposal facility – called Onkalo – started construction to store waste underground for as long as needed. Scheduled to commence operations in 2025, this nuclear waste repository is expected to hold approximately 6,500 tons of spent nuclear fuel. An underground research facility at 455 meters deep beneath the ground was constructed between 2004 and 2014 to verify the suitability of the bedrock.
A study was conducted on the sociotechnical issues that came along with the site selection process for the final disposal facility. The study found that the site for building the final disposal facility in Finland was chosen not just based on geological suitability but mostly on the lack of opposition from the local people and government.
In the 1980s, nuclear energy companies and the Finnish government started to look for a site where a final disposal facility could be built. There was a lack of meaningful participation from stakeholders in the selection of the site. In the end, the government picked a municipality with less opposition, namely Eurajoki.
Gaining acceptance and trust among the residents was quite easy in Eurajoki as they were already familiar with the nuclear industry, due to the presence of the Olkiluoto nuclear reactors there.
