Budget 2025: Authorities to study potential deployment of nuclear power in Singapore

SINGAPORE: The government will study the potential deployment of nuclear power in Singapore and take further steps to systematically build up capabilities in this area, said Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on Tuesday (Feb 18).

Delivering his Budget 2025 speech, Mr Wong noted that Singapore has signed agreements with the US on civil nuclear cooperation and is working on "similar cooperation" with other countries with capabilities and experience in civilian nuclear power, especially small modular reactors (SMRs).

"Within the government, we will reorganise ourselves to provide greater emphasis on this work," said Mr Wong. 

"We will need new capabilities to evaluate options, and to consider if there is a solution that Singapore can deploy in a safe and cost-effective way."

Mr Wong added that these capabilities will also be needed for nuclear safety, which will become "more salient" given the growing regional interest in nuclear power.

Last year, Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng said in parliament that Singapore has plans to build a pool of about 100 nuclear energy experts in the medium- to long-run. 

However, he added that no decision has been made on the deployment of nuclear energy and Singapore is unable to commit to a timeline for taking a position regarding it.

NEED FOR "MAJOR INVESTMENTS"

To meet its growing energy needs and reduce carbon emissions, Singapore needs more clean power, said Mr Wong.

One solution is to import low-carbon electricity from the region and Singapore is "making progress" on such imports, he added.

But beyond this, there is a need for domestic sources of clean power to ensure greater energy resilience.

While Singapore has "closely" evaluated the use of low-carbon hydrogen, there are "inherent challenges" in the production, storage and transportation of hydrogen, which make it difficult to scale up in a commercially viable manner, Mr Wong said.

Authorities had considered the possibility of using nuclear power in 2010, but assessed that conventional nuclear technologies were not suitable for Singapore.

However, there have been "significant advancements" in nuclear technologies since, with the development of SMRs which have better safety features than conventional reactors, added Mr Wong.

He pointed out that regardless of whether Singapore looks to electricity, hydrogen or nuclear energy, it will need to make "major investments" in new infrastructure.

As such, there will be a S$5 billion top up to the Future Energy Fund, he announced. "This will further support our critical undertaking to secure clean power for Singapore," added Mr Wong.

He had announced the setting up of the fund with an initial injection of S$5 billion at last year's Budget. 

Said Mr Wong: "Our efforts to enhance our technology and innovation engines, strengthen our enterprise ecosystem, invest in new infrastructure and overcome our resource constraints, will enable us to refresh our value proposition and stay ahead in a rapidly changing world."