your say'Imagine an 'Alam Flora' truck leaking radioactive 'liquid' all over the place on the way to dump the material in an illegal landfill.'

Wong slams PM over 'obsession' with nuke power

DOC: This affair with building nuclear reactors is nothing more then another of Prime Minister Najib Razak's hare-brained idea in walloping public funds. Numerous studies on energy production in the West have shown that nuclear energy, although it is supposed to be clean (if there are no accidents), is not cheap to generate.

Hence, it is not efficient, cost-wise. That does not include the costs to house and manage the radioactive waste. That is why there are no new nuclear facilities that have been built in the US, Europe and most developed countries in the last 20 years. All existing nuclear facilities in the West are nearing their shelf-life and there are no plans to build new ones.

Also building a nuclear facility requires experts in that field of nuclear technology, for which Malaysia has no home-grown engineers. So we have to look into the cost of hiring and maintaining an army of nuclear technologists and experts.

Sentinel: We should speak against these "confused priorities" of Najib. The winds on the east coast is so powerful and consistent all year round. We can build windmill farms to harvest the green energy, but instead, they want nuclear plants.

If they cannot even plug the leaks in the Parliament building roofs - how can they convince us these nuclear power plants won't leak harmful radiation?

Not Confused: If the economic and environmental arguments end up being in favour of nuclear power, then I for one would insist on the planning, construction and maintenance phases of any project be overseen by recognised, professional international organisations, including the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).

The potential for an international disaster on the Chernobyl scale would be too great to leave the job to local organisations. With this country's penchant for corruption, the quality of the construction would certainly be compromised due to the inevitable creaming-off of costs to satisfy the BN cronies along the way.

Just look at the failings of buildings in Putrajaya, the Parliament building, Jalan Duta High court building and the collapsed stadium in Terengganu. I shudder to think of the possibilities for such disasters with nuclear power plants!

So do me: We cannot let the government go through with this idea. Like the unsinkable submarines, super fighter jets that lose their engines and other major scams, this project will also be poorly managed. If we cannot even sort out our public transportation system, what guarantee is there that we'd be able to handle atomic energy?

The rakyat should stand behind Selangor exco Elizabeth Wong and oppose this evil. The future is green and Najib needs to be force-fed this.

No Nuclear Nation: As long as the government doesn't come clean with strong and independent facts and figures to reason out why we need the nuclear power plants, the rakyat will not buy into another mega-project.

One Bakun dam fiasco is enough to last us a lifetime. And here we are not talking about affecting one generation, but our children's generation, grandchildren's and so forth.

Joker: With such low standards of maintenance culture, how confident are we that we won't have a leaking nuclear reactor, unstable foundations, collapsing nuclear buildings and missing nuclear materials?

Where and how the radioactive waste material will be disposed of? Imagine an 'Alam Flora' truck leaking radioactive 'liquid' all over the place on the way to dump the material in an illegal landfill.

Neders: Sorry Pemandu chief Idris Jala, I'd have to disagree with you that if subsidies are not removed, this country will be bankrupt by 2019. More like 2013, the way this unelected PM of ours is splurging our money on all sort of Mickey Mouse projects.

The poor of this country are in the millions and straining under the yoke of this oppressive and corrupt regime with subsidies removed and prices of essentials going up and up with no relief in sight. Where is the Malaysia I used to know? Have we lost our very souls?

MrM: In a country with as excessively abundant sun as ours, utilising solar power is a total no brainer. Those who criticise solar power often do so with little knowledge and based on poor assumptions from the early days of solar power.

Solar power isn't limited to just photovoltaic, which has increased in efficiency and decreased in cost by leaps and bounds, but also other techniques, including those that would work at night by storing the heat from the day.

Wong Jiang Fung: Solar energy is expensive and requires research to bring down the production cost. But since we have energy surplus for many years to come. It's a good chance to start the solar energy research now, unlike many energy-hungry developed nations, who have no choice but to seek drastic short-term solutions.

ONG: If the BN insists on going ahead with the two nuclear plants, then the plants should be located in two of the four BN stronghold states of Johor, Pahang and the two BN fixed deposit states. Those four states can draw straws for BN's nuclear present.

Rolls-Royce: I don't believe BN is that dense. It is all about money and more money. The fact is we are a nincompoop country that can not do one thing right, so please don't mess with nuclear staff. Even Japan with such high level of professionalism and ethical work culture has had nuclear accident before.

Just look around the length and width of this country. Almost every basic infrastructure, from roads, drains, bridges, water, electricity and sewage system is breaking at the seam and yet we want to talk about grandeur staff. How nincompoop can we get?

Daniel: Peter Chin, how much nuclear fuel would be needed for the two 1,000MW plants? How and where do you plan to dispose the nuclear waste? In your backyard? As for the location of the proposed plants, there is no need for expensive foreign consultants.

If you are adamant about going ahead, just put one in Putrajaya and one in Pekan. Problem solved, zero consultancy fee.

Cheong Sai Fah: Malaysia is such a small country. There is no location remote enough. The US had a close call with the Three Mile Island nuclear reactors. Why risk it happening to us. We mismanaged the low radiation waste from a rare earth factory not too long ago; how can we be confident about handling the real stuff.

The government should focus on conservation and usage efficiency. Encourage low electric power intensity industries. For example, instead of going for electric vehicles which are inherently costly and hence elitist, why not introduce the now readily available Idle Stop Start (ISS) technology to all new vehicles we produce since it would cost RM1,000 more. Collectively, these ISS vehicles will save 10 percent more fuel. Such measures will buy us the time needed for alternative energy sources to mature.

Multi Racial: Even if Malaysia needs more power, I will never agree to the nuke power for simple reasons:

1) it is likely to cost us much more than others to build,

2) it will cost us more than others to maintain,

3) we are likely to face more potential disaster than others due to our poor maintenance,

4) electricity will eventually cost more,

5) someday I am sure a major disaster will happen.

This is my view and it was not a guess. It is based on the BN track records. By the way, not only I oppose to the nuke plant, I am also against the purchase of the submarine and the stupid idea of 100-storey building.

So why do we need to build nuclear plants and put us at risk when we have so many alternatives. I think Najib knows the answer and so do many millions of other Malaysians. Obvious, isn't it?

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