Environmental advocates also argued that Malaysia should focus on accelerating renewable energy deployment instead.
“If we are pushing for the ambition of (getting to) net zero by 2050, we should push for a direct transition towards renewable energy, such as solar and wind and/ a total phase out of fossil fuel,” said Hamizah Shamsudeen, a climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace Malaysia.
But there are limitations to renewable sources, with officials noting that they cannot reliably serve as base load power sources.
“We cannot use solar and wind as base load because they are intermittent. Like it or not, we have to see nuclear power as an option, otherwise we cannot fulfil the net zero emission (target),” said Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Chang Lih Kang.
“Besides that, we also cannot cope with the energy demand which is getting increasingly important, especially (with) more investors coming in, including data centers. Energy consumption is very high.”
Malaysia recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States on civil nuclear cooperation and has also pledged to explore a small modular reactor with Russia.
Source: CNA
