A mushrooming need to go nuclear
Just as flower bouquets, cheers and joy greeted the heaven-bestowed bloodless coup last September, the military government's shrewd policy to support nuclear energy development was greeted with exhilaration and celebration among the Thai citizenry.All praise should be given to Gen Surayud Chulanont, the prime minister, for his initiative to raise nuclear energy as a top priority national agenda, and to Dr Piyasvasti Amranand, the energy minister, for his infinite wisdom, moral and political courage to have both the main and back-up plans of the approved power sector investment master plan include four nuclear power plants with such decisiveness.
The virtue and significance of atomic energy for peace, though well-evident among the highly-educated and noble echelons of Thai society, has yet to be realised by the less learned masses.
It is thus of the utmost importance that the government, experts and good citizens take it upon themselves to provide and implant the right kind of knowledge, understanding and attitude towards nuclear matters in the public and their young.
This article is an attempt towards that goal. The reasons why we should embrace nuclear energy with our hearts and souls are as follows:
Sheer beauty of nuclear science
A supreme science, the physics of nuclear fission is full of wonder and enchantment. A mere, small mass of uranium, through violent microscopic-particle collisions, can be transformed into such force that creates gigantic mushroom beauty that can wipe out the entire planet. The very same process can also generate serene energy for peace and reconciliation.
Super-highly-advanced, super-safe technology
Nuclear power technological advancement has come a long, long way since the Chernobyl fiasco. Reactors, now in their third or fourth generation, are getting hotter than ever and have more and more layers of protective shields. In fact, they are so totally fail-proof and utterly complex that it is impossible for non-experts to comprehend. No matter, the public can rest assured that nuclear energy facilities are the safest places on earth. The only area of technology that needs a bit of further work, preferably by our later generations, is finding a super-natural material that would safely encase and out-last 200,000-year-old radioactive nuclear waste.
Source of honour and pride
Without nuclear power, our ambition to join the ranks of civilised, developed nations, like the USA, France and Japan, simply cannot be realised. Even India, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea have (peaceful or otherwise) nuclear power. Not to be left behind, we must follow in the footsteps of these advanced (albeit slightly roguish) nations. We have already proven our incorruptibility, efficiency and deep regard for discipline through world-renowned successes such as Suvarnabhumi Airport and the nuclear research reactor in Ongkarak, Nakhon Nayok province. So it is high time our beloved country charges forward into the nuclear future. The world will take notice of Thailand's rise to nuclear power as a manifestation of our further competence for complex, advanced technology and socio-cultural progress toward a militarily disciplined society, worthy of safe nuclear power operations. We will then be able to take great pride in Thailand as a truly civilised, developed nation.
National security
Thailand is surrounded by neighbours with clear nuclear energy development plans: China, Indonesia and Vietnam. Even Burma has already signed a contract to purchase a nuclear reactor from Russia. Being in the middle, Thailand is likely to enjoy their generosity through leaked radioactive fumes-sans-frontiers if a highly rare reactor accident were to occur in any of the surrounding countries. Thailand, therefore, must develop our own nuclear capability to ensure we won't be on the receiving end only. At least it will give us psychological comfort, which is beneficial to the security, peace and order of the nation.
Clean and pure
Nuclear energy, with no exhaust and greenhouse gas emissions, is so clean and pure. It is like a heroic knight on a white horse coming to rescue our civilisation from the gloom and doom of global warming, a sad legacy of our excessive, wasteful exploitation of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution. The nuclear waste disposal is certainly a non-issue (at least for the ''old ginger'' generation and up). We will be proud to have created and left behind a new legacy of invaluable nuclear waste heaps to be passed on to later generations for safe-keeping, for hundred thousands of years to come.
Cheap source of alternative energy
It cannot be denied that nuclear is a definite ''alternative energy'' to be considered. This is because all proposed candidate ''options'' in the power sector investment master plan included four nuclear power plants. So nuclear energy is a mandatory ''option'' of alternative energy that we cannot refuse. Besides, nuclear power is unbelievably cheap (not including the costs of public relations campaigns, risk insurance, meeting per diems for hundreds of committee members and experts recruited for preparatory work and studies, and budgets for developing and training of human resources in and outside the country).
Without nuclear energy, Thai people would be left in the dark, forced to use candles because we really have no other alternatives to choose from.
A boon to the economy
It is hardly an over-statement to say nuclear power development is a cure-all solution to our ills and woes. The Thai economy is no exception.
When the economy is short of foreign currency and suffers a balance account deficit, nuclear energy can help by reducing the need for imported fossil fuels and thus foreign currency spending. And when the economy is so flooded with foreign currency that the baht is super-strong (as is currently the case), building nuclear power plants can also help; to build a nuclear facility requires an immense amount of investment capital to import everything from equipment, expertise to fuels, thus creating a significant outflow of foreign currency.
Moreover, nuclear power is consistent with the self-sufficiency economy principle. It is thus unmistakable that, regardless of the state of the economy, nuclear is always the saviour of the economy.
Given all these astounding merits of nuclear power, Thai people should undoubtedly be overjoyed to support the construction of nuclear power plants in our golden kingdom.
And there is no other place more suitable for the plant site than Bangkok, the centre of the best of everything in Thailand. A nuclear power complex will become the icon of progress and modernity, feeding the electricity-hungry capital side by side with Suvarnabhumi Airport, our other great example of Thai ingenuity and success.
On the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of the jaw-dropping display of mushroom-shaped atomic force in 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug 6 and 9, respectively, we, the Thai people, should pay tribute to the great service atomic energy has done for humanity.
Issara Na Nakorn is the pseudonym of a Bangkok resident with interests in energy and environment.