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Fukushima disaster will not hinder the mind blowing the nuclear growth in Asia

The recent Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, triggered by the earthquake and tsunami, may have left thousands stranded, but has also created an awareness on the importance of nuclear safety amongst the global nuclear energy industry stakeholders.

Seemingly, the accident and the subsequent fall-out has not slowed the growth in the Asian nuclear sector.

Kwang Seok Lee, General Manager – Operations, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, the nuclear utility/operator, believes that the nuclear energy industry in Asia will be growing at its amazing pace, despite the accident. Read the full interview here.

“The nuclear industries have confronted similar situations in the past when the previous accidents happened in TMI and Chernobyl. At that time many countries like the USA and Europe have not grown their nuclear sector enough;

On the other hand, S. Korea has been steadily developing and growing our nuclear technologies. Now, Korea has its own nuclear plants, called OPR1000 and APR1400. APR1400 plants are the improvised models of OPR1000 and are now exported and are under construction in the UAE.

The duty of reducing the carbon dioxide by the Kyoto Protocol will be important factors in the future, so nuclear energy is going to play a key role. Definitely, we have to consider more safety designs and have good performance indexes so as to get a fine nuclear landscape,” he explained.

Dr. Chaivat Toskulkao, Secretary General, Office of Atoms for Peace, Thailand explains that all parties involved will learn from the Fukushima crisis and from Japan’s approach to resolve the crisis. The lessons learned will make the nuclear energy industry even safer. Building a new nuclear power plant from now on will be more expensive. Inevitably, positive public support and acceptance will be needed more than ever before. The complete insight piece with Dr. Toskulkao here

Dr. Trinh Van Giap, Director, Insitute of Nuclear Science & Technology, Vietnam said, “just like other industries, the nuclear industry has also learnt from the mistakes and incorporates the solutions in the improved designs and equipments. I believe that Vietnam is still going ahead with its nuclear power plan. By or around 2020, we should see new nuclear power plants in Vietnam, and other Asian nations will watch closely on how the nuclear project in Vietnam goes. This, I think, will shape the nuclear landscape in Asia.”