Nuclear power plants are coming in to vogue, particularly for Asian countries. As much as a power generating source, it’s become a matter of prestige – an announcement to the world of their emerging importance. Several other small SE countries are vying to set up nuclear power plants, namely: Vietnam, Indonesia and even Burma.
EGAT is the name of Thailand’s state-run monopoly which oversees electricity generation. EGAT is hell-bent on getting at least four nuclear plants built along Thailand’s coasts. There are several reasons why these proposed plants are not a good idea – all of which are articulated in the book.
The latter part of the book presents details of dozens of interesting alternatives – mostly solar, and which can generate power for individuals, for villages, for cities. Concentrated solar technology can readily be set up for large scale applications. In many ways, concentrated solar would be preferable over nuclear, namely: it’s cleaner, it’s fuel is free, it’s cheaper, there are no needs to decommision later on.
Additional reason why solar is preferable to nuclear, are: solar is relatively safe, and there is no need for extravagant security or high insurance premiums. Also, large Thai construction projects are always affected by corruption and there are well documented cases of below-par quality.
