The Malaysian Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry has approved the nation’s first nuclear power programme, which will begin with a small nuclear power plant as a power demonstrator reactor before larger and more cost-competitive plants are built.
The Malaysian deputy minister Fadillah Yusof said that efforts to support nuclear technology applications, especially for nuclear power generation, needs legal framework and regulatory provisions to be further developed, including the reorganisation of licensing processes.
"This was the approach taken by Japan, which started with a power demonstration reactor generating only 13MW of electricity from 1963 to 1982 before building 53 larger plants with capacities of between 340 and 1,300MW," said Fadillah.
A small-scale nuclear reactor is allowed to be constructed next to an urban area which requires electric power. It will be permitted to generate between 200,000KW and 300,000KW of power.
