ASTANA (Kazakhstan), Aug 28 — The Malaysian Physicians for Social Responsibility (MPSR) hopes the Malaysian government will seriously consider against having a nuclear plant in the country.              

Its president Dr David K.L. Quek said MPSR was strongly opposed to the idea although the purpose of having a nuclear plant was to generate energy, but it could bring more harm than benefits.          

He said their main concern was that accidents could happen despite the precautionary measures taken in producing the energy, while the cost factor was another consideration for the government.   

“The main problem is how to store the waste, where to put the waste. Besides that, it’s not really environmental friendly,” he said when met on the sidelines of the 21st International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) World Congress, held at the Independent Palace, here.             

The MPSR is a non-partisan, independent society of physicians and medical students whose aim is to work towards peace, social justice, ecological sustainability, human security, and prevention of conventional and nuclear war through peaceful resolution of conflict and abolition of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons through research, education and advocacy.

Dr Quek said building a nuclear plant would be very costly, ranging from US$10 billion to US$15 billion (RM32 billion to RM48 billion).

“With that huge amount of money, the government could consider to invest in renewable energy, especially solar.       

“To me, Malaysia is not ready to generate nuclear energy yet. Maybe in the future, if we have progressive technology. To have it now... we are far from that,” he said.     

The Malaysian government had reportedly said in December 2010 that it planned to build two nuclear power plants to meet rising energy demand, one by 2021 and the second a year later.

The 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima power plant in Japan which released large amounts of radiation has raised public concern over the risk of nuclear power.

Last month, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Mah Siew Keong said the government would conduct a feasibility study on a proposal to build a nuclear power plant in the country in 10 years’ time.

The minister who oversees the Malaysia Nuclear Power Corporation (MNPC) said a comprehensive study, including public acceptance, was needed besides obtaining input from the experts and also non-governmental organisations.  

Dr Quek cited the Fukushima case, where despite the proper implementation and high-technology used, the power plant had caused problems to the country.    

“Look at Fukushima. They have good technology, but when there was an earthquake and then came the tsunami, it caused the Japanese a lot of problems. The situation at the affected areas still remain uncertain until now,” he said. — Bernama