The System Dynamics of Nuclear Energy in Singapore

Straits Times, 2010 

In recent years, Singapore has begun exploring other sources of energy to diversify from our reliance on natural gas (79%) and petroleum (19%). The Singapore government has chosen to explore the option of underground nuclear reactors. Having read a news article by the channel newsasia on this issue, it has piqued my interest to want to know more hence in this blog post, i would like to comment on the journal article entitled "The System Dynamics of Nuclear Energy in Singapore" published in the International Journal of Green Energy. This journal article mainly assesses the environmental, economical, social and political implications of building nuclear power plants in Singapore. In this blog post, I will mainly focus on the environmental impacts that can possibly arise from the nuclear reactors. 

The environmental implications of using nuclear energy is that there will be a reduction in carbon emissions from electricity generation. It has been noted that electricity generation contributes to 50 percent of the emissions in Singapore. Hence, by using nuclear energy, our carbon emissions can be lowered significantly. There is also a worry of potential radiation pollution. The article reports an interesting fact that when the plant is properly managed, the radiation emitted is lower than natural radiation that we are exposed to. Thus, the public should be reassured that radiation levels are actually not harmful. 

Another concern is thermal pollution. This is due to the release of hot water used after cooling the plant. This hot water when released back into the sea can increase water temperatures and the rates of decomposition. Consequently, dissolved oxygen will deplete and the marine ecosystem will be adversely affected. Great biodiversity may be lost where 90% variety of marine species are destroyed due to the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in United States. The article proposed to purify the warm water through desalination plants so that they can be used for drinking water. I feel that this idea may not be very practical as the water from the nuclear reactors are likely to be contaminated. If it is indeed possible to purify the water for drinking, it will also be hard for society to accept and drink it. Hence, it may not be very feasible to use the warm water released from nuclear plants and purify it for drinking. 

Nuclear waste management is another significant concern when it comes to nuclear power plants. The article states that the anxiety of nuclear waste storage in Singapore is "greatly exaggerated according to Palmer, Ramakrishna, and Cheema (2010)". The British nuclear plants were used as an example to show that only 1090m³ of high-level waste (HLW) is produced from 41 reactors and taking into account the creation of nuclear weapons. This amount of waste only required a standard size of basketball court to be filled to below the level of the baskets. While the article portrays this optimistically that Singapore would have sufficient space to contain the waste, I am quite skeptical about the nuclear waste management in Singapore. The article mentions that 236000m³ and 3190000 m³ of intermediate-level waste (ILW) and low-level waste (LLW) respectiely, are produced in a day. [HLW refers to waste that are of high temperatures and radioactivity, ILW are of lower temperatures and radioactivity and ILW includes materials such as protective clothing.] Taking the data of the British nuclear reactors and assuming that Singapore operates a nuclear reactor for 50 years, the HLW, ILW and LLW produced are 48152m³, 105,048,780m³, 1,419,939,024m³ respectively. If we want to store this nuclear waste, we would require around 24 Semakau landfills (Semakau landfill has a capacity of 63 million m³ and stores our incinerated waste (National Library Board).) If Singapore is planning to capitalise on nuclear power, nuclear waste management is an issue of paramount importance to be considered. 

While costs of energy from harnessing nuclear power is much lower than the cost of natural gas and oil sources, it may be difficult to get the public to accept the building of nuclear reactors due to the safety concerns. Furthermore, there are also environmental concerns with regards to the use of nuclear power. If Singapore is really keen on building an underground reactor, I think the design and management is very crucial. This is because Singapore, unlike other countries that capitalise on nuclear power, is land scarce and are likely to be found directly below our homes. 

References

Chia, E., Lim, C., Ng, A., & Nguyen, N. (2014). The System Dynamics of Nuclear Energy in Singapore. International Journal Of Green Energy, 12(1), 73-86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15435075.2014.889001

National Library Board, S. (2015). Pulau Semakau | Infopedia. Eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 3 October 2015, from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1008_2010-03-22.html