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| Prime Minister Hun Sen shook hand with Russian president Vladimir Putin during the ASEAN-Russia summit. (Photo supplied) |
The Cambodian and Russian governments have signed several Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) to help build a nuclear power plant in the Kingdom, despite previous statements saying the opposite and with no timeline as to when such a plant would be built, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Ministry secretary of state Dith Tina told Khmer Times that the plan would provide cheaper electricity prices and fulfill the growing demands in the Kingdom.
Prime Minister Hun Sen and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were witnesses at the signing ceremony of eight MoUs in Russia last week during the Russian-Asean summit.
The MoUs were signed between the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) and the Russian corporate ROSATOM for the creation of a nuclear information center, and the creation of a joint working group regarding the development of nuclear energy in Cambodia.
Prime Minister Hun Sen told Cambodian students studying in Russia that Cambodia had no ambitions to use nuclear energy. However, after the signing of the nuclear energy MoUs, the Kingdom now plans to use nuclear technology in a peaceful way to develop the country, according to the ministry spokesman.
Mr. Tina professed the benefits of nuclear energy, citing its low emissions of greenhouse gasses as well as attributing Vietnam’s cheap electricity prices of 100 riel per Kwh/h to nuclear power, despite the country having no nuclear power plants operating, according to the World Nuclear Association’s website.
Mr. Tina said a nuclear power plant could generate 10 times the amount of electricity produced by a hydropower plant.
He added that before any developments went ahead, the government would have to seek permission for a nuclear energy license from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as respecting international security standards and inspections.
He said uranium would need to be imported to operate the plant, but only a limited amount would be needed for the initial start-up phase.
“As for uranium, that is a natural substance to fuel nuclear power plants. Although we have to buy it from abroad, it won’t be a problem at all, because a nuclear power plant does not need much.
“Usually, only a small amount of uranium can fuel a nuclear power plant for years,” he said.
According to the CDC, the current electricity supply does not meet basic demands, with 24-hour electricity not guaranteed throughout the majority of the Kingdom.
The CDC said that now 22.47 percent of Cambodian households are currently connected to electricity – 54 percent of urban households and 13 percent of rural households. But the state-owned enterprise Electricité du Cambodge (EDC) hopes to provide electricity to all villages by 2020 and to 70 percent of all rural households by 2030.
The CDC also said the government relies chiefly on hydropower, coal and imported electricity to attempt to meet demands, with the construction of eight hydropower plants and three coal-powered plants expected to be finished in 2020.
The construction of power lines to import electricity from Thailand and Vietnam was finished in 2012. The government is also planning to import electricity from Laos and the construction of transmission lines to connect with Laos is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Phnom Penh alone consumes 90 percent of the total electricity, while about 80 percent of the population is living in rural areas where they do not have electricity at all, according to the CDC.
In cooperation with a string of national and international interests including the World Bank, the Nordic Development Fund, the Electricity Authority of Cambodia and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been supporting the Greater Sub-region Transmission Project (GSTP) to construct 109km of high voltage transmission lines to connect cheaper electricity from Vietnam to Phnom Penh.
To distribute power to households in rural areas, private companies were encouraged to connect from the main power lines to households and small businesses in different villages at a reasonable price, according to an ADB statement released last month.
“The rural customers, who were mostly rice farmers living below the poverty line, were offered low-cost connections and allowed to pay fees in installments,” the statement said.
Besides the ADB and the World Bank, India has also agreed to provide a loan of $70 million to help Cambodia construct a power infrastructure.
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