In the past two days, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Singapore to do a big event!
On July 31, Singapore's foreign minister, Dr. Doctor, and Blinken signed the 123 Agreement.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore
The signing of the civil nuclear energy cooperation agreement aims to deepen cooperation between the two sides in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Singapore is considering alternative energy sources to reduce carbon emissions.
Foreign Minister Vivian said on Facebook that the country is learning from United States expertise in civilian nuclear technology as traditional nuclear technology is no longer applicable to Singapore. Faced with the rapid development of civilian nuclear technology, Singapore must keep up with any breakthrough in this area.
Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in a Facebook post that Singapore is expanding its cooperation into new areas, including in key emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and civil nuclear energy (which allows new technologies to be tracked and better assess Singapore's future energy possibilities).
Source: Huang Xuncai @FB
The Section 123 Agreement is named after Section 123 of the United States Atomic Energy Act. According to the Atomic Energy Act, United States must sign a nuclear cooperation agreement before engaging in major non-defense nuclear cooperation with other countries or organizations, which must meet nine non-proliferation standards.
After the signing of the agreement between Singapore and the United States, it will be reviewed by the United States Congress, and the agreement is expected to enter into force by the end of 2024 and will be valid for 30 years. As of early July, the United States had signed Section 123 agreements with 24 partners, including China and India, as well as three Southeast Asian countries: the Philippines, Indonesia and Viet Nam.
Lee Hsien Loong said 10 years ago that "Singapore is not suitable for nuclear power generation"
In this year's budget, Lawrence Wong, who was then deputy prime minister and finance minister, said that the possibility of Singapore using nuclear power generation in the future was not ruled out.
In early April, Manpower Minister Tan Sze Loong told Parliament that fusion technology has the potential to meet Singapore's power generation needs and will closely monitor the development of nuclear energy technology.
But the Singapore government didn't say that 10 years ago.
In 2014, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague that it was necessary to build awareness and capacity for nuclear energy, but Singapore was not suitable for nuclear power generation.
Singapore's energy policy seems to have shifted from not being suitable for nuclear power to not ruling out the possibility of using nuclear power to generate electricity.
Will Singapore build a nuclear power plant in the future?
After the agreement was signed, everyone also speculated whether Singapore was going to build a nuclear power plant. In the joint statement, Singapore reiterated that "Singapore has not taken any decision on the deployment of nuclear energy. "The signing of the 123 agreement does not mean that Singapore will definitely build a nuclear power plant.
At present, Singapore has not decided whether to use nuclear power to generate electricity, mainly because most advanced nuclear reactor designs are still under development and have not yet begun commercial operation, which does not guarantee the safe use of nuclear energy.
图源:Hansueli Krapf
It is too early to say that Singapore will use nuclear power to generate electricity in the future, but we can talk about why Singapore signed the agreement.
In simple terms, there are the following reasons:
1. Reduce dependence on foreign countries
Singapore's current electricity is largely powered by natural gas, which is mainly imported from Malaysia and Indonesia.
The supply of electricity is vital to the country's development, and governments do not want to hold on to this important strategic resource. If nuclear energy is allowed to replace natural gas for power generation, it will reduce dependence on other countries around it.
2. Achieve the 2050 emission reduction target
The Singapore government has set a target to reach net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. Achieving this goal means replacing existing natural gas power generation models with renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydroelectric power to the greatest extent possible in the future.
Singapore has a lack of resources to develop electricity, lacks rivers for hydroelectric power, and does not have a high coverage of solar power, so the use of nuclear power with hydrogen, ammonia and biofuels seems to be an option.
3. Research and development of nuclear fusion technology
Nuclear power plants around the world use splitting uranium atoms to produce energy, the so-called nuclear fission technique. The buffer range required for this technology is very large, so it is not suitable for Singapore, which is a small country. The focus of nuclear energy research is now on fusion technology, which produces energy through the fusion of two atoms, which is safer than nuclear fission and does not produce long-term radioactive waste.
Nuclear fission technology is still in the research stage, and Minister Chen Shilong said that this technology will take at least 10 years to perfect.
The agreement will unlock United States' nuclear energy knowledge and technology, strengthen the mainland's understanding and capacity building of nuclear energy, and help promote cooperation on nuclear safety among stakeholders such as academics, government agencies, and businesses, such as knowledge sharing and training programs.
It will also provide a better grasp of the latest developments in reactor design to support Singapore's active role in regional and international nuclear security cooperation.
Five stages of global nuclear energy development
1969~1988: Rapid development stage
Since the world's first nuclear power plant began operation in 1954, the feasibility, stability and economics of nuclear power have been well proven. The oil crisis that erupted in 1974 caused oil prices to skyrocket, and many countries put nuclear power generation on the agenda, and most of the nuclear power plants currently in operation were built during this period.
1989~2000: Slow development stage
After the 80s of the 20th century, the economic growth of the developed countries in the West slowed down, the demand for electricity became more and more stable, and the requirements for nuclear power plants were no longer urgent. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the Soviet Union in 1986 also caused many countries to cancel their plans to build nuclear power plants.
2001~2011: stage of recovery and development
The problem of environmental pollution is becoming more and more serious, and climate warming has become an issue of international concern, and countries are looking for low-carbon emission power generation models. The technology and safety of nuclear power continued to advance during this period, which led to a resurgence in nuclear power development around the world.
2011~2020: The development slowed down again.
In 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident triggered by the tsunami once again showed the major impact of nuclear leakage in other countries, and anti-nuclear voices became mainstream.
2021-present: recovery and development phase
Environmental awareness is gradually rising, and "dual carbon" (carbon peak and carbon neutrality) has become the consensus of the international community, and in order to achieve the goal of net zero emissions, countries around the world are once again considering the development of nuclear power. The France government says that without nuclear power, the EU will not be able to achieve its carbon neutrality goal by 2050 as planned. The outbreak of the energy crisis in Europe in 2022 has also made the energy policies of countries such as Britain and France once again move closer to nuclear energy.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), nuclear power emits 5.7 grams per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced, solar power 74.6 grams, hydropower 64.4 grams, and wind power 13.3 grams.
HQ丨Editor
Edited and reviewed by AY and HQ丨
Network collation data丨Source
FB, Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs丨Source
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