Glow in the dark

[Jim]

BANGKOK (Dow Jones)--Thailand will make a final decision within three years on whether to join the nuclear club, although for now it is too soon to say whether the global credit crunch will slow its ambitions.

The net oil importing nation is mulling a proposal to build four reactors with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts. If it goes ahead, the reactors will allow Thailand to reinforce its energy security and diversify its generating capacity.

"We need to prepare all necessary details over the next three years for the government to make a decision (on nuclear energy investment) in 2010," said Kamol Takabut, assistant governor at the state-owned Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.

Feasibility studies covering power utility, technology, safety, waste management, basic infrastructure, the legal framework, public acceptance and human resource development will be done over the next three years.

Part of the study is now being drawn up by the U.S.-based engineering firm Burn and Roe Group Inc.

The government will need to rule on whether to 'go nuclear' and also to finalize details such as the type of nuclear technology, the generation costs, the investment budget, the source of financing and the location of the reactors, Kamol told Dow Jones Newswires.

Under its tentative plan, the first two plants will start operations in 2020 and another two in 2021. Each, with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, will require a total investment of about $2 billion, Kamol said.

It is just too early to gauge its impact of the global financial crisis on the plans, Kamol said.

"The investment decision will be made in the next three years and our advisor will recommend sources of funding," said Kamol.

Elsewhere in Southeast Asian, Indonesia and Vietnam are looking into building their first nuclear power plants, and the Philippines in mulling whether to dust of its mothballed nuclear facilities.

The Philippines completed a 620-megawatt nuclear plant in 1984, but never operated it due to questions over safety.

Asean countries together with China, Japan and South Korea, where nuclear energy plays significant role in power generation, recently agreed to move forward on initiatives to develop civilian nuclear power.


Potential Sites Along Thai Gulf

So far, 14 locations along the Gulf of Thailand have been considered as potential sites for constructing the country's first nuclear power plant.

The location choices will be narrowed to five for an in-depth study on basic infrastructure, and then short-listed to three for a final decision to be made by the government, said Kamol.

In term of technology, Kamol said at least four groups of companies are keen to build nuclear plants for Thailand.

Areva (CEI.FR) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (7011.TO), through their joint venture ATMEA, have proposed pressurized water reactor technology, which is used by 60% of around 440 nuclear stations worldwide.

Toshiba Corp. (6502.TO), which owns Westinghouse Electric Co, as well as a joint-venture between General Electric Co. (GE) and Hitachi Ltd. (HIT) have proposed using boiling water reactor technology, which is used by 20% of nuclear plants globally.

Canada's Candu has also expressed interest in supplying its heavy-water technology fueled by natural uranium, Kamol added.

After the government makes a decision, it will take another three years for a bidding process and another 5-6 years for construction, said Kamol.

Once the four reactors come on line, nuclear energy would account for 9% of Thailand's total fuel sources for power generation. Natural gas, which currently accounts for 70% of fuel mix, will reduce its share to 44%.

Even though nuclear power plants require hefty investment, the fuel cost is cheaper than other conventional fuels, and electricity generated by nuclear reactors has the lowest cost per unit.

The generating cost of a nuclear reactor is THB2.08 per kilowatt hour versus THB2.12 for a coal-fired power plant and THB2.29 for a natural gas-fueled plant, the Energy Ministry has said.


-By Supunnabul Suwannakij, Dow Jones Newswires; 66 2266 0744; tu.suwannakij@dowjones.com