In a move to set up its first nuclear power plant by 2025, Malaysia needs to table a legislative framework for the programme in Parliament by this year.

Malaysia Nuclear Power Corporation (MNPC) chief executive officer Mohd Zamzam Jaafar said the legislative framework was important because it would assist in the signing of agreements with foreign countries in assessing the purchase of nuclear technologies.

Although Malaysia already has the Atomic Energy Licensing Act (Act 304) 1984, it nevertheless, needed to be updated for "a clear national legal and regulatory infrastructure to develop a nuclear industry in this country," Zamzam told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said Malaysia thus needed to pass a new law on the subject, then it should be followed by a discussion between the federal government and the state government involved.

"Only then, the need to engage with the public (on the matter), and then only, can we look for a site to build the (nuclear power) plant," Zamzam added.

He said a time-frame to build the nuclear power plant would take 11 to 12 years, adding that it had to undergo few procedures under the Entry Point Projects of the Economic Transformation Programme before it could be implemented.

Series of public fora to be held

MNPC has identified "four critical path items on nuclear power development, which includes the government ensuring that the correct regulatory framework is put in place and there must be public acceptance of the project."

In creating this awareness, MNPC is organising the first of a series of public fora, titled 'Engaging Malaysia on Nuclear Energy' this Saturday at the Art Printing Works (APW), No. 29, Jalan Riong, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, next to the New Straits Times office, at 10am.

This will be followed by several fora to be held in key cities, including Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Johor Baru and Kuantan this year.

Malaysia, which is among 162 International Atomic Energy Agency member states, has expressed intention to build two nuclear power plants to meet the rising energy demand, one by 2021 and the other, a year later.

The meltdown at Fukushima power plant in 2011 ( photo above ), which released large amounts of radiation had raised public worry on the risk of nuclear power plants.

- Bernama