Tuesday, November 20, 2012

How Much Does UK Spend To Process Its Nuclear Waste?

UK's Department of Energy & Climate Change has budgeted £2.5 billion (~RM12.2 billion) for 2012/2013 fiscal year to handle the "nuclear legacy", including nuclear waste management and nuclear plant decommissioning.

Even with this high figure, UK's National Audit Office has brought up the question of whether cost estimates for decommissioning future nuclear power plants may have been underestimated.

Below picture shows the estimated and actual cost of UK's Sellafield project of nuclear legacy. It clearly shows that planning could never catch up with reality when dealing with nuclear power.
In March 2012, our Malaysia government said that while our natural oil reserves would last until 2021, we would continue investigating alternative energy sources, including nuclear power.

During 2010 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., USA, Our Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin said that Malaysia had been preparing for the time when it might turn to nuclear energy, including training in-country experts and making sure to follow through on the various obligations.

I hope that when we plan for nuclear power plant our smart leaders would have considered everything from head to toe when saying nuclear plan is cheaper than other source of energy, and won't fall into the same planning mistake like UK when dealing with nuclear legacy.

Source: How Much Does Nuclear Waste Processing Cost The UK? by Nicholas Brown

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