Hello goodfellas! Just got back from several Hari Raya open houses and went straight to my laptop to update my facebook account. Tetiba je, i stumbled upon a comment by a good friend of mine dan commentnya sangatlah tegas dan garang! Rey!Kenapa garang sangat??haha....ok Dr.Rey, this post goes to you! It seems that you are very concern about the vulnerability of a nuclear power plant... The word "nuclear" alone dah sounds menakutkan....betul tak?? Haaaaah....here is where i play my part! The Nuclear Mythbuster!
Let me help you debunk some myths.....
- Malaysia has enough energy in reserve- Yes we do...but just for now..the remaining capacity will not be sufficient after 2015.
- Solar as replacement- Well, the two main things in generating power is RELIABILITY and CONSISTENCY. Renewable energy such as solar and wind do not. Looking at the current trend, solar will not be enough nor capable.
- Energy resources and uranium- This is a no brainer... Minyak kita dah nak abis!!! Uranium is abundant...enough said..Ooohh...btw, do you know that our coals are 100% imported??
- Nuclear power plant can become a bomb- Rileks brader.... a nuclear bomb explodes like a bomb...not a nuclear power plant....Why?? The fuel is spaced well apart and reactions can be automatically controlled..
- There an be another Chernobyl- Yesterday's technology is not tomorrow right?? Consider this...a 1983 Proton Saga and the current Saga BML...which one is equipped with an airbag??
- Nuclear plant is dangerous- Hah! The on-going OPS Sikap sees more fatalities than nuclear power plants! Based on my research, fatalities(1970-1992) occur in a nuclear power plant barely hit 50 people. Guess how many fatalities occur in coal mines in the same period of time....Tadaaa! 6400 people!! So, do your math and tell me which one is safer...
- Exposure to high radiation- Bullocks! radiation exposure is insignificant! Nuclear power plant's radiation= 0.002 mSv.....your TV emits 0.01 mSv of radiation(2hrs of watching)!!
- Too much waste- Production of all the electricity consumed in a four‐bedroom house for 70 years leaves about one teacup of high‐level waste.That is very minimal.
- No solution for the waste produced- Spent fuel can be recycled...yup..just like your "surat khabar lama!" and your "tilam lama tukar baru!!"
- Expensive- My dear Rey, believe it or not...solar costs the most......and the most to generate electricity...that is US$25++/MWhr.....nuclear sits around US$5/MWhr..
- Much fuel are needed- Ok...picture this....a 30 grams of a nuclear fuel pellet produces the same energy as 3 tonnes of coals...paint the picture in your head...ain't it beautiful....How big is a 30g of a pellet??? Here is a picture...
30g fuel pellet
I think these should be enough for today...ill add more nanti eh..... post kalau panjang sangat jadik semak....i nak blog yang jambu.....betul tak nazri??
terbaik!!
ReplyDeletethx bro!
ReplyDeletefor someone who doesnt know a thing about nuclear like me, this is great stuff! very easy to read and very informative.
ReplyDeleteawaiting for the next one! more nuc info plsss
xoxo
one of the best blogs so far among your classmates...
ReplyDeleteplease keep on posting more info like this.
nice posting. definitely what we need in malaysia.
ReplyDeletea 30g fuel pellet would be from a refined raw material that is definitely much larger (but to those not in the know, uranium is one of the most energy dense materials).
one teacup of high level waste might be a small amount but is definitely much more dangerous than a teacup (please multiply by number of four bedroom houses + commercial energy loads). waste is a problem. reprocessed uranium doesn't come cheap and is only feasible when prices are exorbitant.
Nuclear power plant's radiation= 0.002 mSv might be so under safe conditions. but we all know even when we purchase a microwave, that it is not so easy to program the clock. it takes one black swan to forever shift the present.
while current solar energy prices are prohibitively expensive , US$5/MWhr surely does not take into account other costs. if we are to use this as a means to reduce pollution, then there has to be an audit of GHG and CO2e of the whole process from harvesting to power generation (this is why the toyota hybrid prius is actually more of a polluter, despite my love for its 0.25 drag coefficient)
good blog. very sure that malaysia needs to head in that direction, although current technologies are fairly lacking. Would be good prospect to breed our own scientist, we only have a few.
p.s. some advice i received from my peers, "the difference between a material well worth reading and a gossip magazine is citing of a credible source"
impolite
Terbaik!
ReplyDelete