WEEK 5: SUMMARY/READER'S RESPONSE DRAFT #3: CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION
In the article “How can Southeast Asia’s clean energy transition be sped up?”, Ha (2019) wrote on experts who addressed how Southeast Asia (SEA) should implement various methods to beget green energy production. According to Ha, Moniz, who is the Chief Executive of the Energy Futures and Nuclear Threat Initiative, stated that deploying an array of "low-carbon technologies and solutions" in SEA is vital to reducing emissions. Moniz also mentioned that Singapore is inapt for the usage of solar and wind power due to having limited natural resources and space and may reap more from nuclear fusion or hydrogen power. Ha also says that implementing such methods is not cost efficient to meet the objective of the Paris Agreement. Ha also mentioned that Wong, the Group Chief Executive of utilities company Singapore Power, believes that balancing energy consumption rates are more critical than creating a new energy source to suit our current lifestyle. Instead, Ha mentions the Ecosperity report, in which it would be more beneficial for SEA if energy conservation methods were emphasised more while accommodating growing economic needs.
Although nuclear fusion is viable in creating a new energy source, currently,
the energy produced is lesser than what is required to sustain the process. Furthermore,
its potential radiation exposure and inefficiency is also disadvantageous especially
if adopted by a small country such as Singapore. Instead, the country should
focus on energy conserving technologies to the country's constraint space and
dense population.
Firstly, the process of nuclear fusion research is currently
at a stage where the reactor consumes a larger amount of energy than it
produces which is known as “parasitic power drain”. One of the contributing factors
is the maintenance of essential machineries supplementing the reactor. Additionally, the colossal amount of heat
generated requires the coolants to consume a large amount of energy (75-100
Megawatts) to suppress it. Additional costs may even be incurred by purchasing
power from the regional grid if the fusion output is interrupted. The large
amount of energy required for nuclear fusion and its purpose is further
described in an article by Gascon et al (2017). As compared to existing energy
renewal technologies such as hydro and solar energy which requires lesser
energy to sustain, it would be inefficient to build and sustain a new nuclear
fusion plant in Singapore.
Secondly, land scarcity has always been a problem in
Singapore. Paired with its dense population, the country would be a poor host
for a new nuclear fusion reactor. Although a nuclear fusion reactor may not
emit as much radiation as a nuclear fission reactor and any accidents is more
containable, in a small country like Singapore, the scale of any incident would
still be significant. It was mentioned by S.Ho et al (2019) that it is
challenging to locate new nuclear power plants and prepare ideal contingency plans
due to Singapore’s land scarcity. In another article, S.Ho and S.F Chuah (2021)
mentions “findings from an extensive study conducted in 2012 concluded that the
risks of existing nuclear technology outweighed its benefits, given the
country’s small land area and high population density.”
Lastly,
the building of nuclear fusion plants may not be well received by the citizens
due to their perception of nuclear radiation. Although, minimal radiation emmited
can be well contained and pales in comparison to nuclear fission, citizens may
not appreciate the reasoning due to bad past experiences. Some of which are “The
Chernobyl incident in 1986, Russia” and “Fukushima nuclear incident 2011, Japan”.
These ghastly incidents cause people to have strong rejections to having any
nuclear related structures within the proximity of their living quarters.
However,
it can be argued that due to improving construction technology, the energy
consumption of nuclear fusion plants have reduced which makes it more viable. The
amount of energy produced as compared to what the reactor required has also
been slowly balanced to make the output more than what is required to sustain the
process. As mentioned in an article by Ridway (2021) it is targeted for a reactor
to “produce 500 megawatts of fusion power for every 50 megawatts of input
heating power” by December 2025. The radiation emitted in nuclear fusion is
also minor and does not pose a threat if proper isolation procedures were
taken.
In
conclusion, even though nuclear fusion energy may be more viable for ASEAN in
the future as technology progresses, it may still not be as viable to Singapore
due to its lack in capability in sustaining it. Hence, it would be more viable for
Singapore to adopt renewable energy technologies instead.
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words)
References:
Ha,
T. (2019, July 19). How can Southeast Asia's Clean Energy Transition be sped
up? Eco-Business. https://www.eco-business.com/news/how-can-southeast-asias-clean-energy-transition-be-sped-up/
World Nuclear Association. (2020, November). Nuclear
fusion power.
Ho,
S. S., Leong, A. D., Looi, J., & Chuah, A. S.F. (2019, February). Online,
offline, or word-of-mouth? Complementary media usage patterns and credibility
perceptions of nuclear energy information in Southeast Asia. 48.
Ho,
S. S., & Chuah, A. S.F. (2021, September). Why support nuclear energy? The
roles of citizen knowledge, trust, media use, and perceptions across five
Southeast Asian countries. 79.
Ridgway, A. (2021, December 03). Why the promise of nuclear fusion is no longer a pipe dream.
https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/fusion-power-future/
Gascon, J. C., Hourtoule, J., Benfatto, I., Nair, S., Tao, J., & Goff, J. (2012). Design, Challenges and Key Features for the ITER Electrical Power Distribution.
https://ans.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.13182/FST12-A13395?needAccess=true
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