A PRELIMINARY QUANTITATIVE STUDY ON THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF DEPLOYING A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN MALAYSIA USING AN EMPOWER SIMULATION TOOL
Abstract
Abstract
This preliminary study aimed to quantify the macro-economic impacts of constructing and operating a commercial nuclear power plant in Malaysia using EMPOWER spreadsheet developed by the IAEA. The Excel-based program requires typical economic parameters such as national input-output table, household financial data, employment and wage data by sector, financing parameters and annual energy consumption data. The spreadsheet later combines the abovementioned data with the assumed reactor technology and construction facilities to roughly quantify the project macroeconomic impact. In this limited study with conservative assumptions, we guesstimated that a commercial nuclear power plant may help double Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) and national output in twelve years, with significant highly technical and skilled job opportunities throughout the construction and operation. It should be noted that the accuracy of this preliminary study is sensitive to the assumptions and EMPOWER model limitations.
AbstraK
Kajian awal ini bertujuan untuk mengukur kesan makro-ekonomi membina dan mengendalikan loji tenaga nuklear komersial di Malaysia menggunakan spreadsheet EMPOWER yang dikembangkan oleh IAEA. Program berasaskan Excel memerlukan parameter ekonomi khas seperti jadual input-output nasional, data kewangan isi rumah, data pekerjaan dan gaji mengikut sektor, parameter pembiayaan dan data penggunaan tenaga tahunan. Hamparan kemudian menggabungkan data di atas dengan teknologi reaktor yang diandaikan dan kemudahan pembinaan untuk mengukur secara kasar kesan makroekonomi projek. Dalam kajian terhad ini dengan andaian konservatif, kami meneka bahawa loji tenaga nuklear komersial dapat membantu menggandakan produk domestik kasar (KDNK) Malaysia dan pengeluaran negara dalam dua belas tahun, dengan peluang pekerjaan yang sangat teknikal dan berkemahiran sepanjang pembinaan dan operasi. Perlu diingatkan bahawa ketepatan kajian awal ini peka terhadap andaian dan batasan model EMPOWER.
