• 
• 

Published on November 16, 2007

Chawalit Phichalai said natural gas reserves in the Gulf of Thailand would run out in the next 30 years and the world community's call to lower carbon dioxide emissions from fuel-fired plants would only get louder as a result of global warming.

Chawalit, an Energy Policy and Planning Office deputy director, was speaking in support of a National Energy Policies Commission (NEPC) decision to build a 2,000-mega-watt nuclear plant in Thailand by 2021. He said current high oil prices highlighted the importance of nuclear plants that could produce cheaper power - around Bt2.08 per unit compared to the Bt4 per unit created by bunker oil-ignited plants.

Producing oil from recyclable fuel could not be done cheaply enough in Thailand and no independent power producers had shown interest in investing because they were being offered no incentives, he said.

Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand chief mechanical engineer Kamol Takkabutr said there were now 442 nuclear power plants in 33 countries, and another 29 plants were being built.

Decharat Sukkamnerd, of Kasetsart University, said he was opposed to nuclear power production, arguing that the Bt2.08 figure did not include basic costs which would probably make each unit of electricity cost at least Bt4.04 - more expensive than the power currently produced from bunker oil-ignited plants. He said nuclear power production had been limited in many countries and there were no nuclear plants in many developed countries, including Den-mark and Norway.

Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand said it was inevitable that Thailand would be forced to rely on nuclear or coal-fired power plants in the future. He cited France's success in building nuclear plants after gaining the trust of local communities, suggesting that Thailand do the same.

The NEPC will today sign an initial deal with Laos to produce 1,000 megawatts from its hydropower plants.

The Nation