Atomic ASEAN…reporting from the 2023 Asia Pacific Nuclear Energy conference
There’s no working reactor in any ASEAN country, but plenty of ambition…an an inherent demand for clean, stable power. In case you didn’t make it to Singapore, let’s catch up on the highlights!
Did you know that the ASEAN countries — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam — is home to a tenth of the wold’s population and they’ve almost all been growing like gangbusters? This is a region where energy demand is set to soar, and providing that energy is already proving to be a challenge.
Can nuclear energy be a part of the mix, and help ASEAN decarbonize besides? This is the key question discussed at the Asia Pacific Nuclear Energy conference 2023, which just took place last week, convened by Dr. Victor Nian, co-founder of the Center for Strategic and Resources.
Nian is frank about the challenges: no reactor has ever been turned on in an ASEAN country, and the wealthiest of the bloc — Singapore — is constrained by its tiny size and conservative approach. “I would like to say Singapore would be first,” said Nian, “but the Philippines or Indonesia is more likely as the first nuclear ASEAN nation.”
Will Asia lead a new Global Manhattan Project?
Charles Oppenheimer shares his grandfather’s firm belief that science is a force for good, even if it can be used for positive and negative ends. It’s time he believes for a Global Manhattan Project to speed up the construction of nuclear power plants to provide the world with zero carbon abundant energy.
“We have the enthusiasm,” said Oppenheimer, noting that the public tide of sentiments have turned positive towards nuclear, “but not the giga watts.”
What would make the giga watts happen is global cooperation. “We are at odds with China, but we have the same shared interest in lowering carbon. We should be working together.”
Building the giga watts would also take money: to that end Oppenheimer is starting an energy investment fund that he hopes will catalyze future projects as well as pursue the philanthropic goals of peace and unity.
Singapore’s cautious explorations
Singapore is a tiny powerhouse, occupying just 728 square kilometers and home to almost 6 million people. This makes the challenge of energy security…let alone greening the grid…quite extreme.
“We can completely pave Singapore with solar panels and it would only produce 8.6 GW peak, less than 10 percent of our 2050 grid,” said Chia Meng Hwee, Deputy Director of Energy Technologies at the Energy Market Authority, the regulatory body tasked with keeping Singapore’s lights on.
Despite those challenges, Singapore has committed to limit its emissions to 60 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) by 2030 and to achieve Net Zero by 2050.
Where does nuclear fit into the equation? According to Singapore’s 2050 plan, nuclear energy will account for 10% of the grid by 2050, although it isn’t clear from where we stand in 2023 how this is going to happen. The government shelled out $63 million in 2014 for SNRSI: Singapore Nuclear Research and Safety Initiative. But nuclear development is for now “exploratory.”
Nuclear is attractive because it’s zero carbon, and the energy-dense fuel provides immunity against supply-chain disruptions, said Chia.
Floating ambitions
One potential development that can completely unleash the potential for nuclear development for the entire ASEAN area and beyond are floating Nuclear Power Plants (FNPPs). Once decoupled from site constraints, seismic risks and the uncertainty of the lengthy development period, FNPPs have the potential to become a plug-and-play solution that fast-tracks the nuclear development of any country with a suitable port.
The potential doesn’t stop there, said Mike Watt, director of the future shipping team at Bureau Veritas (BV) marine. BV is the largest TIC body (Testing, Inspection, Certification) for marine in the world. It is actively engaged in Indonesia supporting the technology qualifying process for US-based ThorCon.
Nuclear vessels can “revolutionize the shipping industry,” said Watts. The benefits are clear: no need to bunker for fuel, zero-emissions shipping and the unlocking of arctic corridors are all game-changers. But before that can happen, substantial regulatory barriers need to be overcome.
Denise Cheong, head of Nuclear Law and Policy at the Center for International Law at the University of Singapore, describes the challenge as “the dicephalus beast” — both the Marine and the Atomic sides of the nuclear shipping equation needs to be satisfied, both independently and as they overlap.
The time for legal discussions of FNPP governance is now, said Cheong, as deployment in the region is already being mooted for the 2030s. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the IMO (International Maritime Organization) are the principle bodies, with the IAEA taking the leading role. The WNTI (World Nuclear Transport Institute) is playing a facilitating role, not just between the IAEA and IMO, but also with classification societies such as BV.
Angelica’s Takeaways
Both the “reward” and “challenge” ends of the scale are richly laden in ASEAN for nuclear energy. I came away from the conference both invigorated by the possibilities and in awe of the scale of the challenges.
In my mind, the biggest factors standing in the way of an Atomic ASEAN is the fact that they haven’t done it before. In my mind, this makes the Philippines a front-runner as they built the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Although it was never switched on for political reasons, it’s a testament that the region could sustain nuclear development back in the 80s.
The challenge is also a potential advantage. The region is a blank slate when it comes to nuclear regulation, giving lawmakers such as Congressman Mark Cojuangco of the Philippines a chance to get things right with regulation.
As the demographic crisis overtakes highly-developed East Asian countries, the rise of youthful ASEAN is clear to see. An atomic future for ASEAN could provide the abundant energy the next generation needs to reach their full potential.
Thorcon is definitely on my short list of energy projects with revolutionary potential! I would be truly thrilled to see it or a similar shipyard production concept take flight