No nuclear plants for Malaysia: Dr M

KUALA LUMPUR: In his speech to over 2,000 delegates attending the Conference of the Electric Power Supply Industry (CEPSI) 2018, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia did not believe in using nuclear power to generate electricity because of the drawbacks involved.
He explained that at one time the by-product from tin was used to make colour televisions but this product was highly radioactive.
"One sq kilometre had to be set aside to bury this waste once other technologies became available for making such television sets.
"Once buried, no one could go near it nor live there ... this was a total waste of land," he said.
He said radioactive waste from nuclear power plants need to be disposed of sooner or later and there is no proper way of dealing with it.
He added that this might become a major problem when the world's nuclear power plants will need to dispose their waste.
Mahathir also cited the problem faced by Japan once the Fukushima nuclear power plant had been damaged by an earthquake.
"Now a whole swath of land has become unlivable as people are afraid to return due to the radiation.
"We don't want such things to happen here, therefore this government will not support any attempt to build such plants here," the Prime Minister said.
He said nuclear power should only be harnessed once scientists have a proper understanding of it and how to deal with its waste.
He said Malaysia is capable of meeting its energy needs through harnessing hydro-power, coal and gas powered plants.
Mahathir also touched on electric cars, warning the delegates that it is not as clean as they think.
He said these cars need to be charged, therefore they need electricity which is produced by power plants which do contribute to pollution.