4/02/2016

Singapore’s nuclear nightmare

Singapore’s dream of switching to nuclear power came to a rude ending with the Fukushima disaster. It is unimaginable if Singapore operates a nuclear plant and a mishap of a similar nature occurred. There is no where to hide and no where to run. It would be Singapore close shop for another 20 years. This stark reality has put the idea of a nuclear plant on hold for good until a fail safe system is available and there is no need to run away.

This, unfortunately is not going to be the end of Singapore’s flirtation with nuclear power. The nightmare would still be there. Indonesia and Malaysia are very keen in nuclear power and are exploring on the feasibility of having their own nuclear power stations. What if the Malaysians decided to have one and decided to have it located next to the Johore Straits, a mere 1 km from Singapore’s shore or less than 15km from the heart of Singapore city? A mishap with a 100km evacuation zone would mean Singapore has to close down as well.

This risk, if it actually comes to passé, is more deadly than having our very own nuclear plant. With our own plants we can be sure we will do everything we can to keep it safe. Now we know it is a near impossibility. What about the Malaysians having a plant next door and trying their best to keep it safe?  The thought of a Malaysian or Indonesian nuclear plant near by is going to drive Singaporeans bonkers.

Would Singaporeans have to live with such a nightmare waiting to happen? Please pray hard that both the neighbours would think like us, that it is near impossible to keep the lid tight on a nuclear plant and hoping nothing will happen. If the Malaysians or Indonesians think they are confident to make sure it would not happen, and go about building one next door, it would not be amusing.


Singapore may have to go begging them not to do so, NIMBY! Or would Singapore say you jump I jump? You build one I also build one?  This Titanic logic would not work. Where can we build but just inside this piece of rock?

29 comments:

Anonymous said...


LPPL! LPPL! LPPL!

You choose lah. You choose lah.

Replace the current causeway with a bridge or a nuclear plant in johor?

"Head they win and tail you lose"!

LPPL! LPPL! LPPL!

Don't play play!

Maybe one day , sooOOOOOoooooon!

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

By the Points raised here, Uncle Rb seems quite sure that Sin is the most competent and reliable nation around the Malay Archipelago to operate Nuclear Plants.
He implied that Malaysian and Indonesian are less safe or likely more prone to cause mishaps. Where he got the Idea or came to such a conclusion only he knows. Base on his opinion, then Sin should be the chosen one to operate nuclear plants in the region, if they have to be built. Not only are assumed Sinkies the most qualified and competent, Rb has also assumed that Sinkies will be the most safety conscious and therefore shall cause the least mishaps. Hence, if there is need for nuclear plant, Sin should be the operator. Apart from being self sufficient , Sin can much depend on Nuclear Energy Generation as its industrial revolution and income by supplying energy to the whole region.
Sin shall then have infinite economic sustenance till the others start building their own nuclear plants.

Anonymous said...

"The thought of a Malaysian or Indonesian nuclear plant near by is going to drive Singaporeans bonkers."
RB

No lah, because the chance of that happening is as good as Chee Soon Juan winning the Bukit Batok by election. Hence Singaporeans will not become bonkers.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:52.

Your comments and assumptions revealed the level of IQ of your type. RB already said Singapore knew they could not ensure that there would not be any nuclear accident and thus aborted the idea of a nuclear plant. RB's second point is that it would be better to guard your own house and managed the risk than letting your neighbour guard your house and play with fire. This is not about intelligence but self interest. When it is your property, you die die would want to protect it. And that is why the Singapore govt back off, knowing that they are not good enough. It is better to know one's own shortcoming and admit it than to stupidly go pushing the boundary to court disaster.

This part is difficult for you to understand. You need to have a higher level of intelligence to understand more sophisticated ideas. Otherwise you will be stuck with your inferior complex and keep thinking the world is against you, In reality it is what is inside your head that matters.

Anonymous said...

Reading between the lines in the 11:25
Comment, the impression is that here in Sin is one super intelligent person.
Such a person is what the PAP needs badly. Oops! urgently, rather.

May You use your intelligence to help the lost folks in the cabinet. Using your
intelligence to decipher someone you deemed imbeccile is a waste of your grey matter.

Virgo 49 said...


Aiyo, cannot even maintain a rail system, want to maintain Nuclear Plant.

Singapore does not need the Nuclear Plant if she just abandon their moronic policy of having 10 millions.

No fear of shortage of water, full employment for all Singaporeans. Each Singaporean can own two HDB flats. MRT less breakdowns.

No jostling with the smelly trashes refugees who behaved as though we owe them a living.

All these 10 millions just for GDP of 2% or even minus 2 %.

Loony Loong what said you???

Or TPL I dont know what to say!!

patriot said...


Virgo 49;

Army Generals may not be good at commercial enterprises, however, nuclear technology is one subject theyMUST be very familiar, as it is the Most Destructive Weapon of War at the Moment.

The Sin Cabinet is mostly made up of Military Men, hence it may indeed produce the Best Expurts in the Region for Nuclear Technology.

Me am all for the Biggest Nuclear Plant in the World to be built in Sin. First, we will have another Nombur Satu in the World Record.
And the Best, everyone; yes, absolutely everyone must MAKE SURE NO MESSING with the Plant and live in peace OR PERISH TOGETHER. So, peace is assure and care is a must.

Hope one is built before my expiry, best of all, may it be the Biggest and Most Powetful One.

payriot

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

The nuclear option for energy is no longer an option, it is a MUST. No one expect panic-merchants gives a shit about Fukushima any more---there are no more points to be made, that debate is over. Fukushima was a cluster-fuck of massive proportions from lazy govt over-sight to denial on every level...i.e. it was an accident waiting to happen. China is building dozens of nuclear power plants. They have no choice because air pollution is beyond a joke.

However, I support dissent and skepticism of any idea. The trouble is that the anti-nuclear folks are bereft of any new COGENT ARGUMENTS.

Anonymous said...

Fuck yew lah. Everyone already told you the answer and you still gong gong, bereft of any cogent argument? You keep the population at present level, you don't need nuclear plant, you would not have water shortage, you will have lesser car congestion problem, no need to build and build.

Yew can understand or not?

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Sigh...another non cogent argument from someone who should be excluded from this conversation.

Anonymous said...

Do you think a PAP General Operating an MRT train system or nuclear power plant is also a cogent argument against nuclear power in Singapore?

How about a PAP government making wise decisions on nuclear policy?
Is this another cogent argument against nuclear power in Singapore?

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Today's nuclear tech is way ahead. Humanity in thi case has learned from past mistakes.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki don't count. IMO they are nuclear SUCCESSES! 💣 Why? Because they stopped WW2...dead in it's tracks.

Got Japanese barbecue? 😹😹

Anonymous said...

If ever you Singaporeans build a nuclear plant, I sincerely hope that you can manage it better than the way you manage your MRT. Reading what RB has written would give one the impression that Singaporeans are better at managing such facilities than Malaysians or the Indonesians. RB please write with a little more courtesy. Do you think the way you have written your passage suggests Singaporeans are more superior that your neighbour. Please RB, be kinder, OK?

Anonymous said...

Nuclear power plant accidents: listed and ranked since 1952
---------------------------------------------------------------------
How many nuclear power plants have had accidents and incidents?
Get the full list and find out how they're ranked

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/mar/14/nuclear-power-plant-accidents-list-rank

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Singapore builds nuclear plants, would NSF and NSmen be called in to call to do guard duty like the refineries....sibei suai?

Virgo 49 said...


Little India riots already sixes and sevens. Pulau Bukon just two Japanese Red Guards of less notorious than our 08, 24 or 369 or 706 as muted by Jack Neo, already gave them first class free passage out of Sinking Land.

Have nuclear plant?? Kena sabo by the ISIS or any other terrorists, God help you.

Cried Heavens and Earth also no use. It be really Sinking Land.

Just a motley rag tag group of Pakistan sky jackers on SQ0006 commandos had to be despatched instead of the overhyped SWATs.

Wah piang when can they handle ISIS or Other Arabic Terrorists??

Obama now opened his CB mouth the best fear of madmen in ISIS that may seize the nuclear plant or Arms.

You think Nkorea is more likely to be in this scenario or India and Pakistan??

ISIS unable to penetrate NKOREA whereas these clown states more vulnerable.

Why do they or the Western powers not object to these two clowns having nuclear arms???

FRANCE, UK may be soon be the next target as murdering accomplices to the USA. In most bulling of tge5 Arab States they are the side kicks of the big bully.

So build your Nuclear Plant Singapore and that would end your next SG100.

Anonymous said...

PAP might be arrogant. But they are not stupid. They know the risk and they know that they cannot be 100% sure that no mishap will happen. Then there is the terrorist risk and insider risk, corruption risk and mad people risk and negligence or stupidity risk.

Only no brainers in our neighbourhood would think they are capable of preventing a nuclear accident or incident and would want to build one. And they really think they are smarter and more able than Daft Sinkies.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ 1008:

There is no such thing as "100% safe" or "100%" sure. Everything in this universe is probabilistic.

Anonymous said...

And suffering from entitlement mentality. Demanding to be paid in the millions for shitty work.

You think it is a wise thing to pay a minister many millions to try to solve the MRT problem when so many million dollar MRT staff are paid to do the job? Is that the job of the minister?

Is the minister saying the MRT staff are incompetent and incapable of solving their problems? Then why employed them in the first place and paying them millions?

patriot said...


Build a huge Nuclear Plant as soon as possible in Sin.

Then Sin can do away with National Service and even the Armed Forces.

No one will be stupid to play power with Sin if it owns the Largest Nuclear Plant. Non will want to perish with the Enemy in any conflict.

Sin can export energy to the Region as well to keep the Economy going instead of depending on vices for survival.

patriot

Chua Lee Kheng said...

The individual has rights.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong still don't understand what freedom means to an individual in Singapore.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Patriot, building a nuclear plant in Singapore is easy. We have the money and the means to do it. But consider this, we cannot afford to have an accident. We have no where to run, no room for error compares to big countries. Murphy's Law said when something can go wrong it would go wrong. Look at these possibilities:

1. Act of God. You can't imagine what nature could do.
2. Human error, intentional or unintentional. Think SMRT.
3. Corruption
4. Espionage
5. Stupidity or idiocy
6. Mental cases
7. Religious freaks
8. Terrorist acts
9. Sabotage

They could be many more things that could go wrong. We cannot afford a single mistake. Teh govt knows that they are playing with a deadly solution that could turn this island into a waste land for hundreds of years.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ RB:

» We cannot afford a single mistake. «

That is both wrong and untrue. There have been nuclear accidents before. Fukushima was a big one and it incorporated (from your list above) 1. Act of god 2. Human error 5. Stupidity...let me add a few of my own...lack of govt oversight, slack-arseness, a general culture of denial, poor engineering protocols and systems.

And yet, 5 years on from the accident---through years of fear-mongering, knee-jerk reactions, bad reporting, lots of untruths mixed in with truth, numerous sob-stories and editorials--- there's barely any mention of it and everything is more or less in a manageable state. The Japanese govt, with massive help and funding has brought things under control, and continues to do so. Their latest "idea" is to freeze a wall of soil to keep ground water from being contaminated.

Japan probably could not be the industrial giant it is without "cheap" and "clean" energy like nuclear power which accounts for around 20% of its energy mix. China and India with its HUGE industrial bases and rapidly advancing and upwardly mobile societies know they cannot grow if they don't have affordable energy which won't pump out greenhouse gases. So they are building reactors and pouring massive amounts into the development of thorium reactors. In Singapore interest in thorium is nascent, but at least it is there.

As I've indicated before, the panic-stricken anti-nuclear crowd has yet to produce any cogent arguments as to why nuclear power should not be an option for Singapore.

Thus, I will bet money, that we will have reactors in Singapore. You can complain and scream against it, but at least you'll have the affordable and non-polluting energy to power your computers, aircon your room and run the modern civilization you take for granted, so that you'll have the wealth and the opportunity to write impassioned and voluminous treatise on the net, full of bluster, vim and vigour...with not a skerrick of HARD EVIDENCE nor LOGICAL ARGUMENT to backup your cases.

The anti-nuclear arguments are likely to remain in the realm of intellectual paucity and populated by the same dim-witted individuals for a long time yet. I wouldn't expect anything different. At least, some of it is "entertaining". 😂 😝

Anonymous said...

You can have your opinion. The people making the hard decision will have to decide.

patriot said...

Redbean Sir;

points noted.

Though an atheist, me has great respect for Nature and its' power.
Science has no solution for the Wraths of Nature and beings are its' mercy.
Now that You know its' potency, You may like to accept that with or without nuclear technology, Nature has the Last Say. If it so desires, it shall make mankind destroys themselves.

That's it.

patriot

Virgo 49 said...

Matilah, the Japanese Government might be covering things up whuch nobody knows.

Long term effects on their people and others not identified as yet.

Live creatures and fish migrated everywhere thru the oceans.

One fine day discover babies born without front and backsides in neighbouring countries and all sorts of other diseases.

Many unscrupulous politicians classified happenings as under OSA. Sometimes for the economy.

Why Singapore just lifted the ban import of Jap meats for example recently??

patriot said...


One fine babies born without front and backsides and other diseases in NEIGHBOURING(to Sin?) countries.
Bro Virgo;
You very the Bad leh!
Sin import so much things from Japan and claimed they atr all safe. You then say NEIGHBOURING countries will be plagued by Japanese Foods.
You mean sea creatures avoid Sin but visit all other countries!

You ah! Dont know what creature You are leh.

patriot

Virgo 49 said...


Those at the Pacific Rim. Countries abang adek with Jepun. See the Tsunami can hits the coasts of the U Ass H a y.

Later, SEA countries soon, very soon. Like Agent Orange.

This radiation worse than leukaemia.

Afraid be very afraid.

Complacency kills every bodies.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ virgo49:

Your "moving the goalposts" arguments contain too many "may be's" with no data or even a hint of data to back up your claims. Suffice it to say, the claims you've made have come solely from your IMAGINATION...which is good, if you're writing a book or screenplay.

>> the Japanese Government might be covering things up whuch nobody knows. <<

"Nobody knows" is probably incorrect. All govts resort to coverups, however these days they get busted quite quickly by someone leaking the scam onto the internet. The Japs are really PISSED OFF with their govt over Fukushima. Not only has it exposed people to danger, but it has caused the whole cuntry to "lose face".

The Fukushima thing has too many independent and international operators working on it. Although a coverup is possible, I would say given the publicity of the event, it is highly unlikely to remain a secret by now (4 years later)

Never have I implied that generating energy of any form is "safe", any more than anyone can claim that driving on the roads are "safe" or flying in a commercial jet is "safe". Everything has elements of risk associated with them. "Safety" is an on-going improvement, thanks to science, engineering and technological advancement.

We make trade-offs in every decision. for e.g.: we decide to drive or fly because it can be proven that these modes of modern transport are "safe enough" or "fairly safe", and that the safety standards are high enough to mitigate the risk of having an accident. (BTW flying is safer than driving...statistically speaking)