A lil update...

Hi everyone!

It's been a while since the last update huh...

Today, i came across an article while reading The Star newspaper...

An article titled Your 10 Questions For Tan Sri Leo Moggie...

The first question asked by one of the readers is about nuclear...
Are you ready for nuclear in Malaysia?
Hmm...

Q: Is Malaysia really ready for nuclear power? The citizenry are concerned over the prospect of having a nuclear plant in their backyard and much of it has to do with trust, or lack of it. Amirul, Klang.

A: It would need a full article to give a satisfactory answer to this question. 

Suffice to say there are compelling reasons to include nuclear power in our energy mix in the future. Gas and coal will be increasingly expensive. Coal will also face objections from environmentalists. Hydro power has its own challenges. Renewable energy attracts a lot of excitement but it can at best only complement conventional sources. Nuclear is clean. It is comparatively cheaper in the long run. 

It is important to address public concerns openly, with reliable information. Many of these concerns are associated with the spectre of the Chernobyl accident in April 1986. Chernobyl should be put in perspective. The accident was the result of a flawed reactor design. The technology of reactor design has advanced since then and there has not been any incident of that nature since Chernobyl. 

Because of concerns with climate change and global warming, there is now renewed worldwide interest in nuclear power. A total of 440 nuclear power plant reactors are now operating in 30 countries, which provides about 15% of the world's electricity. About 53 nuclear plants are under construction and will be commissioned in the next five years. There is expertise worldwide in plant design and safety, in managing spent fuel and in handling radioactive waste. Even some countries in the Middle East are looking at nuclear. The United Arab Emirates is now building one. Countries in our region are also looking at building nuclear power plants. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is always ready to offer advice to countries starting a nuclear power programme for the first time and I know our relevant government agencies are in touch with IAEA. There is in fact already some experience on nuclear technology in this country. 

At TNB, a lot of preparatory work has been done in anticipation of developing a nuclear power plant. We have completed a desk study identifying potential sites. A preliminary feasibility study, in association with Korean Power Company was completed in June 2010. We have a Nuclear Energy Unit and are building up our staffing capacity. 

While there is still much work to be done, to achieve the commissioning of the first unit in 2021, Malaysia is managing the process of deploying the use of nuclear power in a considered way, including getting public acceptance from an early stage.

Source: The Star

Every picture tells a story...

From left: Aizat, Hafiz

Why so serious?

From left: Hafiz, Aizat

"A good snapshot stops a moment from running away." - Eudora Welty

Nuclear for peace. :)

Front - end nuclear fuel cycle.

There are studies showing that Uranium resources can only last for a few years from now.

To us, this is not true and we disagree with it.

Why?

There are several reasons actually.
First of all, uranium reserves is directly proportional to its spot price.
When the market price for uranium is high, it means that the demand is increase.
When this happens, miners will start to mine more, thus will make known reserves to increase.

Its similar to the oil and gas industry.
I still remember when i was a little boy, i keep hearing people saying that fossil fuel is depleting and it will only last for a few years.
Now, its still the same. Yet people are still using fossil fuel as if it is going to last for the next 1000 years.
Numbers of new oil well is explored as demand increase.

Nuclear industry is not as famous as the oil and gas industry.
Mainly because people are scared of the word Nuclear.
Try to think if all the country in this world are generating electricity using nuclear, we believe that known uranium reserves will increase from time to time as more effort will be put on uranium exploration.

As for now, public awareness about nuclear must be put in our to-do list.
Go Green! Go Nuclear!

Green is Hijau

A short video from us...

A video worth a thousand words...

:)

Uranium Mining

Something has to start from somewhere...

So does the story of Nuclear...

And the story begins with - Mining.

Mining as we all know is the extraction of minerals or other geological materials from the earth.

In the case of uranium mining, the minerals extracted  = uranium ore.

Basically, there are several ways uranium can be mined.

This includes:-

- Open surface or Open pit mining.

- Underground mining.

- In-situ leaching.

Why several ways?
Well, it all depends on factors such as:-
- Depth.
- Size of the ore body.
- Type of rock formation which the ore is found.

In short:-
- Open pit mining is the conventional type.
- Underground mining is the least safe of all three methods.
- In-situ leaching is less costly to build and operate. It also has a number of advantages over the other two mining types.

But again, mining technique depends on the condition in which the ore is found.

Open pit mining
- Google image -

Underground mining
- Google image -

In situ leaching
- Google image -

Something to ponder 2

This is Part 2 of our previous entry

Type of Power Plant	Fuel for 1,000 MWe for 1 year
Solar	100 KM2 area
Wind	3,000 WIND TURBINES of 1 MWe
Biomass	30,000 KM2 of plantation area
Bioalcohol	16,100 KM2 of corn
Biogas	800 MILLION chicken

- Info from Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia) -

D day

11/10/10

The radioactive day i would say.. :)

Its our Nuclear subject test!

Many topics to cover..and lots of things to memorize.

The questions given was a bit tough though...

Personally, i didn't manage to answer all the question.. :(

Luckily, we were given tips for the test.

Thanks to our lecturers for the useful tips.

It really helps!

We were also allowed to bring a piece of cheat sheet*.  :)

Whatever it is, past is past..

Strive for better tomorrow!

*cheat sheet* - A piece of A4 paper which we can write anything and bring it to the test.

P/s : Sir, please give us good grades... :)