Last year, Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng said in parliament that Singapore has plans to build a pool of about 100 nuclear energy experts in the medium- to long-run.
However, he added that no decision has been made on the deployment of nuclear energy and Singapore is unable to commit to a timeline for taking a position regarding it.
NEED FOR “MAJOR INVESTMENTS”
To meet its growing energy needs and reduce carbon emissions, Singapore needs more clean power, said Mr Wong.
One solution is to import low-carbon electricity from the region and Singapore is “making progress” on such imports, he added.
But beyond this, there is a need for domestic sources of clean power to ensure greater energy resilience.
While Singapore has “closely” evaluated the use of low-carbon hydrogen, there are “inherent challenges” in the production, storage and transportation of hydrogen, which make it difficult to scale up in a commercially viable manner, Mr Wong said.
Authorities had considered the possibility of using nuclear power in 2010, but assessed that conventional nuclear technologies were not suitable for Singapore.
However, there have been “significant advancements” in nuclear technologies since, with the development of SMRs which have better safety features than conventional reactors, added Mr Wong.
