Nuclear power plants in Singapore

I have read some recent articles and speeches made by the government, and it is likely that the government of Singapore would build a nuclear power plant in the near future. I would like to state that I am not supportive of this idea. This would be a blog post on why I do not support the building of the nuclear plant.


First of all, let me start by talking about how the people who support the building of a nuclear power plant looks at the recent disaster in Japan. These people thinks that we will learn from our mistakes and never let another nuclear disaster happening again. However, how can we guarantee this? This was exactly what was said after the Chernobyl disaster, but then why did it happen again in Japan? As once said, Science can never fully solve a problem as it creates ten others. Furthermore, we cannot even anticipate every problem that nature throws at us.

To illustrate my point, let me compare a nuclear power plant disaster to something more people are familiar with, a plane crash. Factors resulting in a crash may be the result of negligent pilots, unexpectedly hush weather or some mechanical failure. From 2000 to 2010, over one hundred plane crashes happened. Although the aircraft industry had been around for decades, why is there such a problem?

The root cause is that humans cannot understand the uncountable types of disasters. Similarly, like the various causes of the crash, power plants have a variety of disaster. If there is a nuclear plant in Singapore, the correct question we should be asking is not if an accident of a nuclear plant is going to happen. Rather, it is when a disaster will happen.

Now, up to this point, let me tell you why some people support the construction of nuclear power plant in Singapore. First of all, in a modern metropolis, there is a rising demand for electricity, and they believe that the nuclear power plant is the key that will solve this problem. They argue, that these nuclear power plants will not pollute the environment, and although I have to agree with their argument, but, if we think about it, for these small profit, can we justify the need to put the millions of lives of people across the country at stake?

The Fukushima nuclear power plant accident has resulted in people living within a 20 km radius from the plant to be evacuated. Moreover, people cannot eat radioactive contamination from food near the nuclear plant area, and even watered has to be screened before the water is safe from drinking. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. This are just the few minor and insignificant inconveniences a nuclear power plant accident can cause to our citizens.

This would be the true extent of a nuclear disaster in Singapore. The people would have nowhere to run from here, and practically everyone will suffer from radiation. If we are lucky enough to somehow survive that, we also have to take into consider the amount of resources to clean up all this mess we have unwittingly created for ourselves. To sum up, radiation not only pollutes the environment, but also claimes hundreds of thousands of lives. The amount saved in terms of electricity will be way surpassed after the nuclear disaster strikes.

Next, according to researches carried out near nuclear plants, nuclear power plants not only pollute the environment, but is continuously discharging a small amount of radiation, which makes people living near them have an increased risk of cancer.

All in all, I know that Singapore is a country of scarce natural resources, but does not allow us to solve the problem using nuclear energy. Nuclear energy does more harm than good, and for Singapore it is not worth it. Therefore, the construction of a nuclear power plant in Singapore should not be done.