I cautiously welcome the recent  announcement by the  government that it is exploring the idea of setting up a nuclear power plant as an alternative source of power to fuel the country's economic growth after the year 2020.
 
The danger of nuclear energy has been somewhat overblown to a point that the public has confused nuclear power plants with atomic bombs since both work on the principle of nuclear fission.
 
The investigation report into the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster attributed the disaster to  a sheer case of  mismanagement and a poorly designed nuclear reactor which lacked important safety features then.
 
The power plants that are in existence today in Russia and many other parts of the world such as the US, France, Japan, China and others are extremely safe. In fact, it is said to be much safer than the conventional energy producing plants now.
 
In America itself, there are more than 105 nuclear power plants in operation and several more are being built. The people of America and the other countries with all these nuclear power plants in their backyards are going about their daily activities without any form of fear or anxiety.
 
It must be pointed out here that although the Chernobyl nuclear disaster caused considerable number of deaths, it is no comparison to the number of fatal accidents reported in the chemical industries with their vast stock of toxic waste around the world.
 
It has been reported that the coal power industry alone has been a major polluter of the environment, killing several thousands of people annually. In fact, it has been estimated that if we were to take the count of all the deaths caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster radiation, it will be far less compared to the number of deaths due to pollution caused by coal burning and other fossil fuel use activities per year.
 
It must be emphasised that contrary to many negative reports that we hear about nuclear power plants, nuclear energy is by far the safest, cleanest and most efficient among all the major energy producing sources.
 
Having said that, I am of the opinion that we should not rush into spending billions of ringgit in building a nuclear power plant in the country when we have yet to exhaust all the other alternate renewable energy resources such as solar power, hydro,  wind, tidal and geothermal.
 
The concerns raised by many with regards to the overall cost especially the hidden costs in building and operating a power plant should be given due consideration by the authorities. Apparently, there are other hidden costs involved with  nuclear power plants such as the heightened security, waste storage , disposal, refueling, massive insurance premiums and decommissioning etc.
 
However, the government may want to consider the use of the newly developed mini-nuclear reactors in Japan and the US which are designed using revolutionary technology.
 
The Toshiba company in Japan apparently has developed a mini-reactor which is only about 20 feet by 6 feet and capable of producing  200 kilowatts of current. This Toshiba  mini nuclear- reactors are said to be cheap and designed to be fail-safe, fully automatic and does not overheat.
 
Apparently, this self-sustaining  mini-nuclear reactor can last for 40 years (self-sustaining)  producing electricity for only (US$) 5 cents per kilowatt per hour which is said to be half the cost of grid energy.
 
These mini-nuclear reactors, due to their small size, are said to be easily assembled in the manufacturing plants of the country of origin and can be relatively quickly transported to any part of the world.
 
These mini-nuclear reactors are expected to be in high demand  in many developing countries with small populations and with land constraints as they provide an alternative to the current nuclear plants which are large, expensive and takes many years to complete and commission.
 
Among the unique features of certain modules of these mini-reactors is that upon the end of their life span, these reactors can be shipped back to the manufacturer for decommissioning thus reliving us of all the related risks (nuclear waste) and costs.
 
In view of the vast potential of mini-reactors it appears that countries in the forefront of  nuclear technology are moving in the direction of developing mini-nuclear plants. As such, it is prudent on our part not to rush into building a new nuclear power plant but instead keep the option open for new energy-producing technologies that are emerging which are relatively safe, cheap, sustainable and environment-friendly.