Hitachi-GE to launch nuclear energy course in Malaysia

Japan's Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy has renewed an agreement with two Malaysian universities under which it will conduct a new international human resources development program to train workers for the nuclear power industry.

Hitachi-GE announced today that it has renewed an agreement with the National University of Malaysia (UKM) and the Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten), a private university operated by Malaysia's largest power company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad.

Under the agreement, Hitachi-GE will run an international human resources development program for nuclear energy, leveraging a course that the company has jointly conducted with Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) for the past five years. So far the course has been held at venues in Southeast Asia and other regions and attended by more than 2000 students. For the new program, Hitachi-GE will work with Tokyo Tech, which has cooperation arrangements with UKM and Uniten.

The new course will "target students specializing in nuclear energy as well as researchers and other specialists from institutions involved in the nuclear power industry in Malaysia", Hitachi-GE said.

The first of a series of nuclear power seminars will be held at Uniten on 20 September, expected to be attended by about 80 students.

"Given the need for the effective transfer of technology and other know-how built up by countries with experience in power plant construction and operation, human resource development involving highly specialized education and training in nuclear energy has become an urgent requirement," Hitachi-GE said.

In 2008 and in the wake of escalating fossil fuel prices on which the country is over 90% dependent for its electricity needs, the Malaysian government expressed its tentative support for nuclear power and set up a task force to investigate the option. In early 2010 the government had set aside $7 billion for plant construction and the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water was instructed to identify suitable locations, yielding eight possible sites.

In January 2011, the Malaysia Nuclear Power Corporation was commissioned under the new Economic Transformation Program to spearhead the eventual deployment of nuclear power plants in a 12-year time frame.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News