Ingenieur Vol. 75 ingenieur July 2018-FA | Page 31

of Technology. Its consequence may be batteries
that last up to four times longer than those
currently on sale.
The two researchers were experimenting
with a way to get rid of the nanoparticles’ oxide
coats that reduce electrode effectiveness as
good conductors of electricity. However, they
accidently left one batch of particles in the acid
mixture for several hours longer than they meant
to. As a result, though shells of titanium dioxide
did form on them as expected, acid had time
to leak through these shells and dissolve away
some of the aluminium within. The consequence
was nanoparticles that consisted of a titanium
dioxide outer layer surrounding a loose kernel of
aluminium.
Dr Wang and Dr Li, however, realized they might
have something valuable on their hands. They
built some batteries with their newly designed
nanoparticles and ran them through 500 cycles of
charging and discharging. At the end of that time
the new batteries retained as much as four times
the capacity of graphite-electrode equivalents put
through the same charging cycle. If the process
of making nanoparticles can be industrialized,
which does not seem an unreasonable hope, then
the life-times of lithium-ion batteries might be
considerably extended.
Prospects for Nuclear Power in ASEAN -
Nur Azha Putra and Philip Andrews
Southeast Asia could see its first nuclear power
plant by 2030.
Half of the 10 ASEAN member states —
Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and the
Philippines — have been identified as frontrunners
to establish civilian nuclear power programmes
in the region. These five states are considered
frontrunners due to their more advanced legal
and regulatory frameworks, nuclear energy
infrastructure, and developed organisation and
human resources. These criteria are among the
19 nuclear infrastructure issues that are outlined
in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Milestones Approach to nuclear infrastructure
development.
Based on the current developments and
progress that these five states have made,
it appears that the region may have its first
operational civilian nuclear power plant by 2030
and perhaps two more by 2035. Indonesia is
expected to commercialize its first experimental
nuclear power plant by 2030 while Malaysia and
Thailand plan to introduce nuclear electricity
into their respective national power mixes by
2035. The remaining two frontrunners, the
Philippines and Vietnam, are committed to
introducing nuclear energy in their long-term
energy mixes.
The report highlights Malaysia as having the
most accomplished approach given the good
progress that its nuclear energy programme
implementation office (NEPIO) has made.
Malaysia’s NEPIO, the Malaysian Nuclear
Power Corporation (MNPC) , was formed by the
Government in 2011. The role of MNPC specifically
and any NEPIO, in general, is to plan, coordinate
and lead the implementation of the country’s
nuclear power program.
Of the remaining ASEAN member states,
Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar have not ruled
out the use of nuclear power but they have
not committed to any specific infrastructure
development plans and implementation
timelines.
However, all three have signed bilateral
agreements with Russia on nuclear power co-
peration. Brunei and Singapore do not have any
plans for nuclear power projects at the moment,
but Singapore’s Government has committed
significant resources to developing local
capabilities in the areas of nuclear safety and
science through the Nuclear Safety and Research
and Education Programme.
H o w e v e r, t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f a
commercial civilian nuclear power plant
is costly, and it takes a long time to build.
The average timeline is at least 10 to 15
years and the average cost is between USD6
and USD9 billion per unit. The costs could
grow exponentially if there are construction
delays, which are not uncommon in the
industry. However, given strong political will
and careful planning backed by the right
technical support from established industrial
players, the construction of a civilian nuclear
power plant can be completed according to
schedule with a minimal cost overrun.
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