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Will Singapore warm up to nuclear energy to combat climate change?
- Singapore’s interest in nuclear power has not been consistent because of safety fears. But new reactors being developed after the Fukushima disaster are sparking a rethink
- The question is: Can proponents change public distrust?
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Why you can trust SCMP
Eight years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered a global rethink on energy policy, signs have emerged that Singapore may be warming back up to the power source.
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Pro-nuclear chatter in the city state was spurred last month when Ho Ching – the chief executive of Singapore state investment fund Temasek Holdings, who is married to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – published a lengthy Facebook post expressing support for the power source.
“Overall, for a greener earth and to reduce carbon emissions, we must master and adopt nuclear energy as a key solution. For now, it is better [that] developed and more capable nations step up their nuclear power capacity,” she said.
“This will reduce the demand for fossil fuels, and lower the overall carbon emissions.”
Ho’s post came attached to a Bloomberg opinion piece that criticised Germany’s decision to phase out all nuclear power by 2022 – 16 years ahead of coal in 2038. It was a telling sign that Singapore, which has declared twice in the past 12 years that nuclear power is unsuitable, may be changing its tune towards nuclear power. And it’s not alone.
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Global fear of nuclear energy flared in the wake of the 2011 accident in Japan. But spurred on by the mounting threat of climate change, pressure to abandon dirtier fossil fuels, advances in nuclear energy research and the prospect of safer reactors, many governments are now having a change of heart.
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