Consultants detail options for nuclear power plant in Brunei

BRUNEI can consider either a small modular reactor for nuclear energy, or decide to build a bigger one and share its output with its neighbours, an official of a Canadian consultancy firm said.

Mil Caplan, from the nuclear energy team of Canadian consultancy firm Powertech Labs Inc, said that the two options are available to the Sultanate if it decides to go into nuclear power.

The first option, he said, is something that Singapore is already studying.

"There are new smaller modular reactors that are being built and could be very suitable. Singapore is looking at it, building it at 125 MW modules, keeping it underground, making it super safe. It addresses a lot of things people are concerned about, but it's at the development stage," he said during a presentation to relevant stakeholders and key players of Brunei's government last month.

This first potential site is located further in-land, between the Tutong and Belait district.

A bigger module with an output of 300 MW, meanwhile, could accommodate modest interconnections to neighbouring Sarawak and Sabah, he said.

"It has a highly reliable baseload electricity with capable factors exceeding 90 per cent. This would also offer opportunities for investment by Brunei," he said, adding, however, that "this method has some risk as designs are yet to be proven, although there is a preliminary commitment to build in the United States".

A 300 MW power plant can supply 50 per cent of Brunei's power needs, he noted.

Having a single source of energy providing more than 50 per cent supply could potentially lead to stability issues should anything happen.

Hence, should Brunei look into nuclear as a possibility, inter-tying of energy grids with neighbouring countries may be a necessity.

A bigger nuclear power plant, either in or outside of Brunei, would require significant improvements in inter-connectivity, he said.

"What's positive about this is that it is a well proven technology with more than 50 years of operating experience and has a highly reliable base load electricity with capacity factors exceeding 90 per cent (of demand)," he said, adding that it would also create lasting high quality jobs in Brunei.

The nuclear energy expert, however, noted that the viability of nuclear power "is based strongly on perception" and that concerns raised over the power source are somewhat disproportionate to realities.

Caplan said that accidents related to nuclear reactors have been categorised as "terrible events" but added that in the United states, the mishaps have not killed anyone. Getting the public to accept it, he said, takes a lot of "long conversations" to convince people and even then, some might never get convinced.

"They are very much against it and nothing you say will ever change their mind. But it's all based on perceptions," he explained.

"I'm not saying that you can't make it safe, Brunei can make it as safe as anybody else, but you will still need to get the public on your side," he said.

Ryan Pletka of Powertech's solar energy team, noted that Brunei's liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants could be seen as dangerous as well.

"In the United States, when an LNG plant is (being built), they face tremendous amount of resistance at that site with public fear of the site or tanker, blowing up. But Brunei has learned to live with its LNG plant and people are okay with having it around," he said.

Other challenges faced by nuclear power, the consultants said, are possible impact on the environment as well as the costs.

The Brunei Times