YOURSAY | Nuclear reactors: Malaysia lacks maintenance culture

YOURSAY | Impossible to guarantee ongoing maintenance and safety of such projects.

KINIGUIDE | Could small nuclear reactors power Malaysia’s future?

Koel: This KiniGuide on small nuclear reactors states that there are only two such small modular reactors in operation - one in Russia and another in China.

Both countries are notoriously secretive about problems in their respective countries. So what models are there in countries where objective, open, and transparent data may be obtained?

That is the first problem that should have been highlighted.

Secondly, former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi famously referred to our situation as a country of first-world infrastructure and third-world mentality.

What are the safety standards, level of knowledge, expertise, number of experts, and safety professionals needed to manage this venture?

What is the state of knowledge in our universities to manage and produce such professionals?

Are we going to pay billions if we do not have to import this knowledge and expertise and then be left high and dry when such expertise should suddenly abandon the project?

It is not very unreasonable to say that our state of knowledge in universities is probably outdated if not backward (considering syllabuses of popular subjects).

Most importantly, going by our poor leadership in public infrastructure departments, it is impossible to guarantee the ongoing maintenance and safety of such projects.

In Selangor where I live, missing drain covers do not get replaced despite regular reminders, nor are the drains ever cleaned despite decades of muck that can lead to flooding.

The contractors hired to maintain the landscape rarely send workers to maintain the grounds.

Areas that are under state or public sector entities are sometimes suddenly converted into makeshift shanties where foreign workers and undocumented workers are housed and charged exorbitant amounts by what appears to be dodgy gangster-like groups operating in those areas.

So, with elements of neglect, apathy, poor understanding of professionalism, and indications of bribery and corruption, how can you provide this "happily-ever-after" version to parrot some opportunistic ministers who may never last their terms in the first place?

Anonymous 1092837465: If the government wants to reduce carbon emissions, it should give thought to saving energy first.

Burning coal might cause more carbon emissions, but we can have a greener way to mitigate - the thrifty use of energy and increasing greenery to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Man-made solutions give rise to new and worse environmental problems. Many are business gimmicks - like solar panels. Just go to our shopping complexes. How many unnecessary and low-quality things are being sold?

How much unnecessary energy has been used to manufacture these low-quality and unnecessary things? How long can those unnecessary things last?

How much energy would be needed to dispose of those unnecessary and low-quality things when they reach their end of life?

Figure out how our inefficient transport system is contributing to increased carbon emissions.

One doesn’t need rocket science to figure out how much energy we waste in manufacturing and disposing of low-quality and unnecessary things as well as on transportation.

Only truth: "Can a fleet of smaller, more flexible nuclear reactors be part of the solution to Malaysia’s energy puzzle?"

In this day and age, our 'budak kita' cannot even sort out the basic catering supply to the national airline, let alone manage the airline itself and KLIA (see the latest Skytrax ratings on MAS and KLIA).

Note that when it first opened, KLIA was ranked amongst the best in the world, then slid down to number 12 in 2012 and now, in 2023, a disgraceful 67th.

Mind you, these are all government-linked companies (GLCs). Do you seriously believe we can have another GLC managing flexible nuclear reactors?

Mind you, this is a very serious matter.

IndigoSwan6963: Nuclear technology is not recommended if we have other, safer technologies, like the Thorium Reactor.

Thorium is also found in abundance in Malaysia. China has successfully created and used the Thorium Reactor to generate electricity to power the cities.

Ghost Rider: Maintenance culture is dangerously lacking in Malaysian society. This is evident amongst the civil servants and anything government-linked or related.

These habits and cultures have been carefully cultivated for the past 66 years. Go to any second-tier local council-managed buildings and toilets, parks and you will see how "well maintained" they are.

Even Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was appalled at the conditions of our national schools’ toilets.

Dilapidated public facilities at parks and forest reserves say a lot about the people who managed them and also the high-ranking ministers involved.

These people cannot be trusted with dangerous things like uranium or plutonium.

We have a nuclear research facility in name only, allocations were given, grandiose pipedream proposals were made, and allocations were given for years.

But not one thing came out of it. In the meantime, we hear of Malaysians managing nuclear reactors and making breakthroughs in nuclear research overseas.

Knucklehead: Without a robust system of meritocracy firmly in place, a resounding and unequivocal rejection is in order.

Consider the unfortunate analogy of those responsible for managing our water dams during a heavy downpour, who recklessly open the floodgates without proper planning, driven by entitlement rather than competence.

We saw how the floods destroyed us. It will happen again due to this 'entitlement' mentality. Therefore, we must emphatically say no to such a proposal.

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