Bangkok Post
May 19, 1999

Lecturer defends Cida-funded nuclear energy study in schools.

A Thai academic yesterday defended a Thai-Canadian nuclear energy education programme against critics who claimed the project was aimed at helping a Canadian firm sell nuclear reactors to Thailand.

Naret Chankhao, head of the Faculty of Engineering’s nuclear technology department of Chulalongkorn University, said the programme was not aimed at convincing students to promote the use of nuclear technology in Thailand.

The faculty’s 50-million-baht Thai-Canadian Nuclear Human Resources Development Linkage Project aims to educate Thai students about nuclear technology during 1995-2000.

The Toronto Star on Sunday quoted Canadian academics deploring the project, funded by Canadian International Development Agency (Cida).

Mr Naret said the programme was funded by Cida, the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat).

He said the faculty’s department, not Cida, had initiated the project and none of the sponsors had intervened in working out details of the programme.

Cida had agreed to subsidise the project with 20 million baht and sought another 20 million baht from AECL after studying the faculty’s proposal on the project, he added.

“It is impossible that this project will be used for convincing children from the Third World to support the use of nuclear technology. We will absolutely not let that happen.

“We don’t care who will support or reject the construction of nuclear power plants in Thailand. We just want Thai people not to think of nuclear technology as only dangerous,” Mr Naret said.

But he admitted some of the sponsors may expect to gain benefits from nuclear-related businesses in the future.

The faculty will go ahead with its nuclear education programme after 2000 but will turn to seek subsidies from organisations without nuclear interests to prevent criticisms, he said.

Under the project, 700 state-run and private secondary schools nationwide will be provided with textbooks and video tapes on nuclear technology, and students will be encouraged to join essay contests offering scholarships until next year.

The faculty is planning to come up with a programme to encourage Mathayom 6 (Grade 12) students to undergo basic nuclear experiments in class.

The Foreign Ministry said the programme would not create much controversy if Thailand had a clear policy on nuclear power plants.