Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Power and Energy Minister has said that the country will not step into nuclear power generation for at least the next 10 years, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Champika Ranawaka told this while answering to a question by the state-run Sunday Observer newspaper about the visit of a team of Russian nuclear scientists to Sri Lanka this month.
“According to our long-term generation plan, there is no proposal to set up a nuclear plant in the country within the next decade.” The minister told the newspaper that the country must first study this relatively new technology in the backdrop of the devastating accidents that have occurred in history and in the recent past in Fukushima, Japan, adding that, however, nuclear power as a source of power generation is kept as an open option in Sri Lanka.
“We are going to introduce nuclear science as a new study module in the Moratuwa University. If we are serious about nuclear power generation the country must first produce the requisite human resources,” he said.
The minister said the arrival dates of the Russian team will be confirmed by the Russian Ambassador in Colombo shortly.
The visit is a sequel to a request by the Power and Energy Ministry and the focus of their visit will be to share their expertise in non destructive technology.
Agencies
