BY PETRE WILLIAMS-RAYNOR Environment editor williamsp@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
JAPAN has expressed a willingness to help Jamaica adopt nuclear energy, at a time when the island's oil bill keeps escalating and climate change is a pressing concern.
"If your Government, your people decide that this (nuclear energy) is the appropriate way to get away from all the problems (with oil), then it is your decision to make and it is your matter. And then, if there is any approach, maybe we would be very happy to give you all the information which might be of some assistance," Hiroshi Yamaguchi, the Japanese ambassador to Jamaica, told Environment Watch at a recent meeting with Observer reporters and editors.
He added that Japan, like Jamaica, used to import 100 per cent of its fuel, including oil — which, like coal, produces high levels of carbon dioxide and is helping to fuel global warming.
"Maybe here you have also exactly the same situation that we had — to import 100 per cent of oil. What Japan did is we have to try to diversify the source of fuel. We have been successful in trying to diversify into three or four or five. This is probably important for Jamaica (depending on how it) feels about its own development for the year 2030," Hiroshi noted.
"We are maybe brother or sister country. We can continue to share information. This (the nuclear decision) is what you decide and what we can do is to give you information for you to decide for the future," the Japanese ambassador added.
Nuclear power holds the promise of non-pollution in its creation of energy through forcing the core of a uranium atom to split (nuclear fission), triggering a chain reaction that splits more uranium atoms.
This chain reaction, according to information from Earthjournalism.net, produces a lot of heat, which a nuclear power station uses to convert water to steam that, in turn, drives a turbine which produces electricity.
Nuclear power does not lead to acid rain nor does it produce greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Still, the power sources remains one of the most controversial of human inventions. Among other things, there are prevailing concerns over how to dispose of the waste, which remains dangerously radioactive (gives off harmful radiation or particles) for thousands of years, posing a deadly threat to human health.
Still, with the exception of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, that country seems to have had relatively few problems with their use of nuclear energy. In fact, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) out of the United States, Japan is the world's third largest producer of nuclear power, after the US and France.
Nuclear power meets some 11 per cent of that Asian country's energy needs, the EIA said. The rest is met by coal (21 per cent); natural gas (17 per cent); hydro power (three per cent); and renewables (one per cent). Oil, however, remains Japan's primary source of energy (46 per cent), albeit down from 80 per cent in the 1970s.
And even as the Japanese ambassador has extended the offer of help, local scientists have urged the Jamaican government to think seriously about having nuclear energy form a significant part of the island's energy mix — though not before the next decade or so.
"It (nuclear power) is a viable option, but not in its present stage — not big nuclear plants, but the small modular plants. (Of course), prototypes for them are just being put into commission (so) we have to wait until there is more experience with them, in another 10 years or so," said renowned local physicist Professor Anthony Chen, who in 2007 shared in the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to climate change research done by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change.
He argued that climate change realities — rising sea levels and the attendant loss of coastal livelihoods; warmer global temperatures and the associated increase in diseases, such as dengue; as well as more extreme weather events, such as droughts and hurricanes — demands a low-carbon future for Jamaica, as elsewhere in the world. Nuclear energy can give the island this, with its promise of non-polluting energy.
However, Chen was quick to note his preference for renewable energy sources — while indicating that they would not eliminate nuclear power — as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG) which Government is now moving towards — as important energy options.
"They would have to go hand in hand. We need to show that we are committed to climate change so we need to go low-carbon. We need to consider seriously a low-carbon economy and nuclear is one option. But it's a worrisome thing... I prefer if we look at renewable energy like solar, wind and hydro," the former head of the Climate Studies Group (Mona) told Environment Watch.
"For one thing, solar and hydro would offer energy security. With LNG and nuclear, you have to be concerned about sourcing the fuel. (However), there are problems associated with making the renewable (sources) hydro and solar a large part of the energy mix because of the variability of the source. Sometimes the clouds come over and sometimes the wind drops," he added.
There are, however, ways around that, Chen said.
Meanwhile, Professor Gerald Lalor, director-general for the International Centre for Environment and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS) at the University of the West Indies, said Government should begin to put the necessary things in place for nuclear power to become an important ingredient in the island's energy mix.
"I don't see any way you could get nuclear power in Jamaica within the next seven to eight years. But if you don't have nuclear energy in the next 20 years, then you have missed the boat," he told Environment Watch.
"We should be seriously starting to put the sort of background essentials in place, especially where you need them anyway — like a law to protect users of ionising radiation, and that actually, the Cabinet agreed to that and a law is to be done... The second thing is that we should start to develop people and (relationships with) countries that would like to help us," Lalor added.
There is also the need, he said, for the development of a small core of people who are able to determine if the small nuclear reactors currently being worked on globally would be appropriate for Jamaica.
"In that respect, this nuclear centre (ICENS) is something that can be helpful. People need to be able to say whether the new reactors (being commissioned) are really as good as the literature makes them out to be," noted Lalor, who has been head of ICENS since it opened its doors in 1984.
The nuclear centre, with a staff of 30 people from a variety of fields, boasts top-rated equipment, including its so-called 'Slowpoke' reactor designed by Dr John Hilborn at Canada's Chalk River Nuclear Laboratory of Atomic Energy, for use in hospitals and research institutions like universities.
The centre also does research and has published more than 50 papers, including Peaceful Uses of the Atom in the Caribbean, Spatial Pattern of Arsenic and Lead Distributors in Jamaican Soils and the Application of Geographic Information Systems to Geo-chemical Studies in Jamaica.
Lalor said, in the interim, that the time when it was dangerous to consider and plan for nuclear power had passed.
"The difference between long ago when it was quite right that we shouldn't think of it, is that now there is a slew of little reactors, which are going to be fail-safe and they are going to be made in factories and shipped away. So the picture has changed in such a way that we really need to look at it," he insisted. "I'm not saying at this time whether nuclear is the answer or not, but I don't see any other answer at that price, and reactors suitable for countries the size of Jamaica. Solar not cheap, wind not cheap and hydro costs a lot of money to build the dam," he added.
According to Lalor, there was no discounting the need to put something in place to help reduce the island's oil bill, but no matter the immediate option — like LNG — being looked at, nuclear would prove a useful complement over the long term.
"Whenever you put in electricity, you must have enough plants that if one goes down, you can manage... A lot of people figure you should have 20 plants because no one plant should contribute more than 10 per cent of your energy. But, you see, the nuclear plants are now so small that you can begin by fitting them into your general plan. You might only want 20 megawatts or 50 megawatts. And as you develop, you can put in a second or a third plant because they are modular," the chemist said.
Still, the 9.0-magnitude quake that struck off the coast of Sendai in Japan, triggering the tsunami that devastated sections of the country has given some people pause in their assessment of nuclear energy as an option for Jamaica. This, particularly since the island is susceptible to these disasters.
Jeffrey Spooner, a senior climate negotiator, is among the sceptics.
"It goes beyond now just a nuclear accident. It (the situation in Japan) was triggered as a result of a natural phenomenon, the tsunami and the attendant problems that occurred. These are some of the things that we in Jamaica would need to take into consideration... These are lessons that we should learn from and that should enable us to better inform our decision-making," he said. "I am not saying it (nuclear) is a way for us to go; what I am saying is that we should learn from what has taken place in Japan."
Like Chen, Spooner favours the route of renewables.
"I would have significant difficulty endorsing nuclear as a climate change (solution), if that safety concern is not properly taken on board. The reason is that we have sufficient solar, we have sufficient wind, we have sufficient hydro. These are safe and should, I think, be fully exploited before we think nuclear. Leave nuclear for people who don't have any other option," Spooner said.
Chen, for his part, has concerns about nuclear waste.
"My biggest worry is what you do with the waste. Obviously for a small modular plant there would be less waste, but it is still waste and these things are highly radioactive," said the physicist, who is himself not immune to the implications of the Japan disaster for any nuclear considerations locally.
The quake and tsunami in Japan forced the shutdown of 6,800 megawatts of electricity generating capacity at four nuclear power stations that have a total capacity of 12,000 megawatts, "with some plants previously off-line for maintainance", according to the EIA. Even now, worries persist in Japan over the spread of radiation to soil and sea water as officials struggle to get a handle on things.
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