Malaysia to build first nuclear monitoring facility in ASEAN

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that Malaysia will build a nuclear monitoring facility...

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that Malaysia will build a nuclear monitoring facility, the first of its kind in ASEAN, at a location in Bukit Ibam near here. The RM 100-million facility will be the 16th of its kind in the world.

“If all goes well, Malaysia will become the first developing country to have its own nuclear monitoring facility and the first in ASEAN,” he said at a “Leaders meet the People” function here. Also present was science, technology and innovations minister Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis.

Jamaluddin when met by reporters afterwards, said work on the facility on a 200-hectare site was expected to start by the end of the year and should be completed in three years.

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“It will be managed by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board and its main function is to ensure that nuclear energy use in the region is only for peaceful purposes and not for making weapons,” he said.

Jamaluddin said it was being built in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency based in Vienna, Austria. “It also will play a role ensure Malaysia and the region continue to remain free of any nuclear threat,” he said.

On the experts needed for it, Jamaluddin said all would be locals and that 66 people had already been identified. “Countries in south-east Asia have plans to build nuclear reactors to generate electricity. Indonesia will commence its nuclear energy programme in 2016, Vietnam in 2018 and Thailand in 2021.