BACHELOR OF SCIENCE ( HONS ) IN ARCHITECTURE

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

NON-RENEWABLE ENERGY

NUCLEAR POWER

TEAM MEMBERS:
1) JOSHUA LEE YEE KAI
2) KAN JIA WEI ADRIAN
3) KIMBERLY WONG JIN SIEW
LECTURER: MS. SALVI

CONTENTS

TOPIC

PAGE

Cover

Contents

Introduction to Nuclear energy

The Benefits of Nuclear Energy

Current Trends and Issues of NonRenewable Energy and Nuclear in

Malaysia

5-6

Issues And Problems

Solutions From Issues of Nuclear

Summary and Conclusion

References

10

INTRODUCTION
Energy is one of the basic needs to get work done. Everything in relation to productivity and
work requires some form of energy usage. Wether its cooking, transportation, electricity
usage or manufacturing, some form of energy is needed to be consumed. Energies like
these can be categorised into two sections, which are renewable and non-renewable
energy. Forms and examples of renewable energy include solar, wind and geothermal, all
under a banner that encompasses energy forms that are available and are able to be
reproduced after usage. Non-renewable energy consists of items such as fossil fuels and
nuclear energy. Today, a massive 85% use of energy in the world belongs to the nonrenewable sector.
The idea of using subatomic particles with highly dense energy to power our gridlines, cities
and lives has long been envisioned by powerful minds across centuries of age. Ancient
masters such as the ever famous Greek and Roman civilisations long for long term energy
that would power their cities without fail. Some dabbled with the wind, while others tried
harnessing sunlight or rain formed energy. Ultimately, these things worked great but proved
to be an issue in the long term. The discovery of Uranium in the 18th century however,
sought to change the landscape of energy consumption forever.
Throughout the 18th and 19th century the world began a revolution. Famously known as
the industrial revolution, this era has seen man transform civilisation from a crop based
society into a manufacturing powerhouse, building factories and shifting peoples attention
to work in these areas that would ultimately give birth to many major cities we have today.
This came at a time too soon for nuclear use however, as understanding of how nuclear
worked was still in its infancy and could not be regarded more than a small lab project by
scientists of that era. This lead to the use of coal and fossil fuels as the main driving source
behind the industrial revolution, with transportation and consumption all being made to
cater for this energy. This would lead to the perception we have of 18 and 19 century
industrial revolution Europe we have today, cold dark days filed with dirt and soot all over
the air and landscape.
As the world entered the 20th century with wars ravaging the world, labs and scientists began the
accelerated study of nuclear energy and had a breakthrough. Besides being a potent and
devastating weapon of mass destruction, it has been deduced, according from an article by the
World Nuclear Association (n.d.) Retrieved June 3, 2015 , that nuclear has been deduced as a
viable form or electrical energy generation. Furthermore, the natural growth rate of plants may be
accelerated through ionising radiation, which in turn will increase crop yield. This was a huge
breakthrough as it had the capacity to essentially wipe out hunger and famine.
The following above is an introduction to nuclear energy and energy in general. In this reflective
and research essay, we will be looking more specifically on nuclear energy, its application in
todays world, its benefits and many more factors and associates and how it will ultimately reflect
the energy back to the nature and us.

THE BENEFITS OF NUCLEAR ENERGY

In an article written by Bruno Comby (n.d.) Retrieved 28 May 2015, nuclear power is
specifically stated as clean, safe, reliable, compact, competitive and practically
inexhaustible. This statement has been proven throughout the past decades and by
scientists worldwide, which confidence seen by governments of the world as well as the
article also states that currently, around 400 nuclear reactors are tasked to generate power
in just 30 countries. With reference to the article, the author furthermore explicitly mentions
that nuclear energy is clean as is produces no carbon dioxide as its waste material. This is
in stark contrast to the use of fossil fuels, where factories are seen lumping out black
smoke containing poisonous gasses that could be seen miles and miles away. Nuclear
power is also proven to be very reliable. Contrary to popular belief, nuclear energy is very
stable when controlled in an environment such as a power plant and has seen prolong
usage and even more so compared to regular fossil power plants as stated from the article.
To provide an example to the points mentioned above, an example of the generation of
nuclear energy using The United States of America and its benefits through information
sources from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is used.
Throughout the 5 years that
the data was used, the
country of example has
generated a constant amount
of nuclear energy, an amount
which, according to the
Nuclear Energy Institute, is
400% more than it was in
1971. However, as we will
see from the data provided by
the Environmental Protection
Agency of the United States
below, carbon emissions in
relation to the past have seen
a steady decline as nuclear
energy is slowly replacing
conventional energy sources
such as fossil fuels.
In this data chart,
carbon emissions have
seen a steady decline in
the period relating to the
first chart above. One of
the major players in
reducing this carbon
emission has been
down to the
downscaling of fossil
fuel use in relation to
the more increased
usage and reliance of
nuclear power.
With that being said, the
benefits that are
available do not only
relate to lower carbon emissions and the environment. As stated in the article by Bruno
Comby, nuclear energy is also more efficient, more safe, and virtually inexhaustible.

CURRENT TRENDS IN MALAYSIA

According to the Malaysian Energy Information Hub, at present Malaysia relies heavily on
non-renewable energy sources for power generation. From the chart below sources from
their database, in the years 2008-2013 ( the latest available ), natural gas is the primary
source of energy followed by crude oil and coal. This represents a huge issue for Malaysia.
Analysing the chart provided,
non-renewable energy currently
dominates the energy usage in
this country, while more viable
options such as hydropower and
biodiesel form a rather meagre
sum in comparison with the other
major players. Nuclear energy is
not even in the equation, with
Malaysia currently not equipped
or not having an available plant
to generate energy from.
The implications of continuous
reliance on energy such as these
are clear. Over time the
environment will suffer and strain
with prolong use of coal gas and
oil, with temperatures increasing and biodiversity in Malaysia being affected greatly. The
Natural Resources Defence Council states with great stress that in the future, if nothing is
to be done now, wildlife of many species and types will go extinct and sea levels will rise
due to the melting of ice caps that will in turn result in the increase of sea levels. Malaysia
would not stand to exist as a country teeming with life and lush jungles filled with many
species if this trend continues.
MALAYSIA ENERGY RESERVES
CRUDE OIL

15 YEARS

COAL

1 938.4 ( MILLION TONNES )

NATURAL GAS

98.32 ( TSCF )

Above are datas concerning the reserve levels of Malaysias three main energy
consumption materials, oil, coal and natural gas. Sourced from the Malaysian Energy
Information Hub and an article from Business Insider, the reserves show the standing of
Malaysias energy reserves and how long it may last before everything is completely used
up. Crude oil is at the most danger of being finished in the short term, with 15 years
remaining in reserves across Malaysia. This means that, as the primary energy use in our
country, Malaysia needs to find viable alternatives besides the growing environmental issue
as well. Not implementing a good replacement would mean a reliance on other countries for
energy which in turn will increase our expenditure ten fold ( expression rathe than actual
number ) and creating a standstill in Malaysian economy.
Coal and natural gas reserves are healthy, with projections stated to last at least a few
more decades before it starts to worry users. However, even though reserves may seem
healthy and in abundance, the issue of containing the pollution levels because of these
energy types consumption has to be reduced massively.

Returning to the topic of nuclear energy, although currently not readily available as a power
plant, Malaysia has long envisioned and implemented plans to construct nuclear power
plants to power Malaysia. Even more so to back up these ideas that the government has a
nuclear division already in place, known as Malaysia Nuclear Agency. Furthermore, a main
office dedicated to this agency with full-time workers further supplement the governments
idea of and visions of nuclear energy in Malaysia.
In 2010, it has been announced that Malaysia aims to have a nuclear power plant ready for
production by 2021. As recent as February 2015, in a news article released by The
Malaysian Insider, the Consumers Association of Penang ( CAP ) are more than likely to
build a nuclear plant in their own state, despite the expected impending disapproval and
backlash from citizens.
From the examples given above, it is clear that, while the governments , wether federal or
the smaller state governments, have plans to conduct and implement nuclear energy into
Malaysia, it is clear from the reaction and response of the public that more education and
awareness has to be brought out to the Malaysian public before acceptance and even
encouragement is given for this project.
Malaysia may want to move fast to raise awareness and to implement nuclear energy
usage as soon as possible with the growing global calls to reduce emissions and reliance
on fossil fuels and coals that are so deadly to the earth.

ISSUES AND PROBLEMS

Throughout the wide implementation of nuclear energy usage around the world in the past century,
many issues and problems have risen and occurred. In an online article published by Greenpeace
UK, some of the issues which are related to the use of nuclear energy, such as energy security,
safety, cost and society perception have already been faced and dealt with by many countries that
are known to be nuclear powerhouses today. These issues are known to be constant regardless of
region and climate, which would mean that any sort of nuclear development in the future
conducted by Malaysia will face similar issues as well.
In fact, some of these problems have already been seen and conducted in Malaysia, such as the
Lynas controversy and debate that still rages on today. Lynas is the name of the company that has
been granted licensing by the Malaysian government to conduct future nuclear programmes in
Malaysia. The public, fearing safety and energy security compromises, responded with backlash,
with protests being conducted on a nationwide scale. The severity of the backlash resulted even in
the creation of a dedicated website as a campaign to stop Lynas. Currently the issue is still on
going in Malaysia as there have been no further plans by the government to advance with their
nuclear ambitions.
Many countries around the world have faced adversity through nuclear usage of some sort in the
many decades of implementation as well. As stated above from the source Greenpeace UK, many
of these issues have been related to safety, cost and energy security. To provide a clearer
explanation, the chart below shows the major nuclear incidents that have happened around the
world. Sourced from Wikipedia as a secondary reference with the former getting the information
from reputable sources such as the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and journals written by
Arthur H. Purcell ( 2005 ), these incidents show a pattern in which why incidents like this occur and
how it has or may have been prevented from happening again in the future.

DATE

LOCATION

TYPE

INES LEVEL

SEPTEMBER 29 1957

MAYAK, RUSSIA

CONTAMINATION

OCTOBER 10 1957

CUMBERLAND,
UNITED KINGDOM

ACCIDENT

JANUARY 3 1961

IDAHO, UNITED
STATES

EXPLOSION

JANUARY 21 1969

VAUD, SWITZERLAND

ACCIDENT

MARCH 28 1979

PENNSYLVANIA,
UNITED STATES

ACCIDENT

APRIL 26 1986

CHERNOBYL,
UKRAINE

OVERHEATING AND
CONTAMINATION

MARCH 11 2011

FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN

NATURAL DISASTER

The INES ( international nuclear event scale ) represents the severity of the incident, with 7 being
the highest in the scale. From the source above, six of the seven incidents are deduced to be
energy security compromises. The exception being in Japan, where in 2011 a tsunami was the
cause of destruction to the nuclear plant. With the incidents also come the cost of repairing
damage and also the safety of workers to clean the exposed radioactive materials.
All these problems represent the major issues and problems that have been faced in the past and
would most certainly be in the future as well, with many other (inexperienced) countries, including
Malaysia, seeking to implement nuclear power in their countries within the next decade. Issues that
are, constantly being retold again and again from organisations such as the source Greenpeace
UK.

SOLUTIONS
From the issues that have been mentioned the page before, now come the solutions that have
been conducted to cure of rid the problem that has surfaced. Gavett G. ( 2012 ) implied that,
among the many important things that need to be done to clear up a nuclear disaster include
forming and exclusion zone, stabilising the nuclear reactors and properly storing the nuclear
material in a correct manner while rehabilitation is being conducted. As an example, Japan and its
Fukushima disaster of 2011 will be used to strengthen the statement above.
In this image sourced
from the website
Truck Camper
Journeys, shows the
exclusion zone that
has been cordoned
off by the Japanese
government hours
after the breach in
Fukushima. A 10KM
radial evacuation
zone is implemented,
followed by a 20KM
less intense
evacuation zone and
30KM no fly zone.
The large scale of the
exclusion zone
shows how severe a
nuclear disaster may
affect its immediate
area. Following the
evacuation process of hundreds of thousands of citizens, nuclear radiation experts began the
cleanup process under high levels of safety and guidance, as per Gavetts article. It is estimated in
Gavetts article that total clean-up and decommisioning of the plant would take around 30-40 years.
Ultimately, Japans handling of the nuclear crisis is a very good example to be used as there have
been no major further accidents or reports in the four years that have passed since the event.
To provide a good example of a country that Malaysia could follow suit in nuclear management
would be to look no further than our northern neighbours, Thailand. As it stands, Thailand is also
on the same position as Malaysia when it comes to nuclear implementation in their own country,
with currently only plans and drafting to implement the energy in the near future. What has been
exemplary of the Thai nation is the measures and lessons that have been implemented after the
Japan disaster. Citing sources from Thai news agencies Bangkok Post and Nation Multimedia,
following the Fukushima disaster the Thai government reviewed its plans for nuclear
establishment. Emergency measures on nuclear power plants, and potential terrorist targets have
also been instructed to be looked more upon, further improving their credentials of nuclear
implementation in the country.
On the point mentioned from Thailand, Malaysia could really benefit from following the measures
and precautions taken as the Fukushima disaster serves as a wake up call to many countries that
are due to handle nuclear energy soon, showing that while nuclear has been used for a ver long
time, when it goes wrong it still goes spectacularly wrong.
As a result of proper planning and management seen in the Thailand and Japanese nations,
implementation and acceptance of nuclear power from citizens in these countries may have risen
dramatically as it is shown that, in an event of disaster the government and more importantly the
nation are more than well equipped to handle the situation effectively without compromising the
situation further.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Nuclear can come in various forms which can be very harmful or very useful to living
things. Thus harmful nuclear waste will be disposed to where they will be distance from
humans. Countries which implemented this method for many years of practices are
countries which are famous to have used large number of nuclear power plants such as the
United States.
Therefore if countries such as Malaysia are to implement nuclear reactors to the country,
high risk should be considered to hire such as experts of the nuclear field to be prepared at
any time to provide immediate action whereas implementing good enough technology to be
able to transport the disposed radioactive substances with great care.
The main objective of safety for the people and environment radioactive substances as also
concluded with the World Nuclear Association. (n.d.). Retrieved June 4, 2015. the nuclear
waste must be in deep permanent burial underground to decrease risk as radioactive
waste compromise 1 percent of industrial waste. As such method in diagram A below is
essential that the scientist or experts must locate specific locations to sparse the burial of
radioactive waste where will be away from the living environment. To the next diagram B
are the procedure taken before and after the nuclear waste are transported and to be
buried.
When the nuclear isotopes are unable to produce electricity anymore, they turned into highlevel energy waste, thus they wait five to ten years to cooled down before they are to be
transported and disposed to the burial site. This method is an example how it has been
implemented in the United States for their method of disposing nuclear waste.

In conclusion, nuclear energy is a very powerful source of energy that can impact and
cause drastic changes in the country such as the countrys economy, medical facilities,
produce energy sources like electricity and much, much more. Furthermore, that which also
depends on the right hands where this powerful weapon will be placed, that will change the
whole society such as the case of the Soviet Union where nuclear is used create bombs
which made the country one of the most dangerous zones in the world.
To which nuclear has placed such great risk to our lives, countries such Malaysia that has
not played a role in it should go into deeper consideration if it is to allow such a dangerous
source to the country such as nuclear as it takes a longer time to decay, thus it is very risky
to dispose them. We will never know how unpredictable will the future holds for us after the
implementation of nuclear, but we can ensure that the energy can and should be dealt with
accordingly through proper implementation of measures and learning from incidents that
have already occurred in the past.

REFERENCES
Streep, P. ( 2014 ). The Trouble With Trust. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/
tech-support/201403/the-trouble-trust
How Do We Know That Humans Are The Major Cause Of Global Warming?. ( n.d.) Retrieved from
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/global-warmingfaq.html#.VVS1K87fLdk
Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Power. Retrieved from http://nuclear-energy.net/
advantages-and-disadvantages-of-nuclear-energy.html
Understanding the Crisis Through Maps . Retrieved from http://truckcamper-travels.ca/japancrisis/
japancrisis.htm
The Sasakawa Peace Foundation. ( September 2012 ). The Fukushima Nuclear Accident and
Crisis Management. Retrieved from http://www.spf.org/jpus/img/investigation/book_fukushima.pdf
Gavett. G. ( February 2012 ). How Do You Clean Up After A Nuclear Disaster? Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/health-science-technology/japans-nuclear-meltdown/howdo-you-clean-up-after-a-nuclear-disaster/
Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas! (n.d.). Retrieved from http://savemalaysia-stoplynas.blogspot.com
Greenpeace UK. ( November 2006 ). Nuclear Power - The Problems. Retrieved from http://
www.greenpeace.org.uk/nuclear/problems
Malaysia Energy Information Hub. ( n.d. ) Retrieved from http://meih.st.gov.my/statistics
Lubin. G. ( April 2010 ). 15 Drill-Crazy Countries That Are Rapidly Running Out Of Oil. Retrieved
from http://www.businessinsider.com/countries-that-are-running-out-of-oil-2010-4?IR=T&op=1
The Malaysian Insider. ( February 2015 ). Putrajaya hell-bent On Nuclear Plant Despite Public
Concerns, Says Consumer Group. Retrieved from http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/
article/putrajaya-hell-bent-on-nuclear-plant-says-consumer-group#sthash.ta1vOOYA.dpuf
Asiaone News. ( May 2010 ). Malaysia aims to have nuclear power by 2021. Retrieved from http://
news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20100504-214230.html
United States Environmental Protection Agency. ( n.d. ) Overview of Greenhouse Gases. Retrieved
from http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/co2.html
Comby. B. ( n.d. ) . The Benefits Of Nuclear Energy. Retrieved from http://ecolo.org/documents/
documents_in_english/BENEFITS-of-NUCLEAR.pdf