Thailand to amend nuclear legislation

25 April 2007

[The Nation, 25 April] Thailand's energy minister, Piyasvasti Amranand, said that the Science and Technology Ministry is amending legislation on nuclear technology to pave the way for the country's first nuclear power plant. The move follows the Energy Ministry's pro posal to introduce 2000 MWe of nuclear capacity by 2020 and a further 2000 MWe in 2021, by which time nuclear power would account for 9% of all fuels used. Amranand said that nuclear power plants "offer a competitive cost." The Energy Ministry has estimated that atan exchange rate of Bt38 per US dollar, a 1000 MWe nuclear plant'sgenerating cost is Bt2.08 (5.5 US cents) per kilowatt hour, while a 700MWe coal plant's cost is Bt2.12 (5.6 US cents) per kWh and a 700 MWe'thermal' plant is Bt2.29 (6.0 US cents) per kWh.

Further information

WNA's Emerging Nuclear Energy Countries information paper

WNN: Thai committee to consider nuclear energy
WNN: Thailand considers building nuclear plant

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