US to Supply Thailand and Philippines with Modular Nuclear Reactors

BANGKOK, LELEMUKU.COM - The United States says it will help Thailand and the Philippines with a new civilian nuclear technology to reduce climate-damaging emissions, but experts warn the final products are years away from being operational and other hurdles exist.

Plans by the U.S. to supply its longtime Southeast Asian allies with so-called small modular reactors (SMRs) were unveiled during Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to both countries in recent days.

While attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Bangkok last weekend, Harris launched a new clean energy partnership with Thailand.

From there, the vice president went to the Philippines where she announced that Washington and Manila were starting negotiations on the 123 Agreement, which would allow for civilian nuclear cooperation.

The U.S. nuclear technology plans for Thailand and the Philippines are firsts involving Southeast Asian nations.

The SMRs, which can be as small as a bucket and transportable, are to be constructed under “the highest standards of safety, security and nonproliferation,” officials said.

Another country in Southeast Asia that has shown interest in developing such reactors – Indonesia – appears to be looking at designs from several countries.

In a press release, the White House said the new partnership with Thailand would “build capacity for the secure and safe deployment of advanced nuclear reactor technologies.”

“This partnership will help Thailand take advantage of the unique benefits of SMRs that provide 24/7 reliable power, complement other clean energy sources, use a small land footprint and incorporate advanced safety features.”

The Thai government has set a goal of Net Zero Emissions by 2065, but no timeline for the SMR partnership. Washington praised the “unique benefits” of reactors which, besides providing reliable power, also fight climate change.

Small modular reactors generally are defined as advanced nuclear reactors with a capacity of less than 300 MW, according to the International Energy Agency.

A reactor could be as small as a five-gallon (18.9-liter) bucket. The traditional design has fuel and control rods, and energy is transported through boiling water, according to NuScale, a U.S. SMR manufacturer, which estimated initial costs at about U.S. $500 million.

The agreement with Manila calls for the U.S. and the Philippines to cooperate on advanced nuclear technologies to ensure energy security as that Southeast Asian country transitions to clean energy.

Once in force, the 123 agreement “will provide the legal basis for U.S. exports of nuclear equipment and material to the Philippines. The United States is committed to working with the Philippines to increase energy security and deploying advanced nuclear reactor technology as quickly as safety and security conditions permit to meet the Philippines’ dire baseload power needs,” the White House said in a statement.

Under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s father, the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, the Philippines began construction of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in 1976, in an area about 100 km (62 miles) west of Manila. The plant, constructed above a major fault line, was mothballed amid safety concerns after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Today, the Philippines runs a couple of research reactors for training and education purposes while Thailand has no nuclear power.

Energy choices

In Thailand, the government’s energy choices are SMRs, wind, solar and high-efficiency combined cycle power plants using both gas and steam turbines, according to a research paper by Tanagorn Kwamman of the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology.

The reactors, which boast zero greenhouse gas emissions, can be factory-made, transportable and relocatable, making them suitable for remote areas or industrial parks.

Tanagorn said Thais were concerned about safety in light of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster caused by a tsunami in Japan. Other obstacles are the limited number of investors and the lack of domestic laws and regulation of nuclear activities.

John Timmer, science editor of Ars Technica, a web portal focusing on science and technology, said that with nuclear reactors, the principle is always “safety first.”

“The approval process for that reason tends to be long and includes a lot of documentation,” he said.

“The SMRs are designed to be much safer, but they haven’t been built (in the U.S.) in a final form yet, so it’s difficult to say whether the real-world experience will show that to be the case and also how useful they’ll be for addressing climate change,” Timmer told BenarNews.

“I’ve been hearing about SMRs for about a decade,” he said, adding that “until we build and get a sense what operating them is like and what costs are like, I’m going to be a bit skeptical.”

The International Energy Agency said most SMR projects are in the “conceptual design” stage, noting China and Russia are among countries that operate SMR prototypes.

Cost is another obstacle.

“We’ve never built one of these, so this is going to be a learning experience and for the first few years. It’s going to be more expensive and more complicated to complete,” Timmer said.

‘Widespread misconceptions’

Economist John Quiggin, a professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, listed economic viability of nuclear power plants compared to coal, gas or solar and wind facilities as one of the “widespread misconceptions.”

“When pressed, nuclear fans will mostly shift the argument to the ill-defined notion of ‘small modular reactors,’ which don’t actually exist, and may never [exist],” Quiggin said, noting there are operating examples of small reactors, but “those are made on a one-off basis and are expensive because they forgo size economies.”

Once the reactors can be factory-produced “the ‘modular’ idea is to counter this loss with the economic gains of high-volume,” he said.

“There has been a lot of talk lately about a revival of nuclear power, partly in response to the need to replace the energy previously supplied by Russia, and partly as a longer-term response to climate change,” Quiggin said.

While in office U.S. President George W. Bush launched a nuclear power program, which led to talks of a “nuclear renaissance” but yielded only two projects despite no effective opposition “except from consumers objecting to the massive costs.”

Quiggin expects that the number of SMRs constructed will be also “tiny.”

“The work of decarbonizing energy supply will be done almost entirely by the sun and the wind,” he said. (Jason Gutierrez | BenarNews)

Human Rights Watch Urges Thai Govt to Investigate Deep South Bombing

BANGKOK, LELEMUKU.COM - A bomb blast that injured dozens of people and killed a police officer at a housing compound for police in Thailand’s Deep South should be investigated as a possible “war crime,” Human Rights Watch said Wednesday in condemning the attack.

The massive explosion from a bomb-rigged pickup on Tuesday afternoon targeted a compound where police officers and their families live in Mueang Narathiwat, a district of Narathiwat province, authorities said.

Some children, including a 1-year-old, were among the injured. A police captain was the lone fatality in the attack by suspected separatist rebels.

“The unlawful bombing of an apartment building crowded with police officers and their families appeared aimed at causing the greatest possible loss of civilian life,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Those responsible should be investigated for apparent war crimes.”

According to the New York-based rights watchdog group, international laws of war protect civilians and civilian structures from attack, and are applicable to Thailand’s southern border region where an insurgency has dragged on for decades.

“Thai provincial police in the south do not engage in counterinsurgency operations and are civilians, not combatants, under the laws of war. Deliberate or indiscriminate attacks on civilians are prohibited, and if carried out with criminal intent are war crimes,” Human Rights Watch said in calling for those who plan, order and carry out such attacks to be brought to justice.

On Wednesday, investigators updated the number of people injured to 45, including three children, from an original report of 31.

A member of Deep South civil society network said the children and at least 13 women were among the injured.

“This is an unlawful act, breeching international humanitarian laws,” Rukchart Suwan told BenarNews Wednesday. “[We] condemn the attack.”

Elsewhere, a leader of Barisan Revolusi Nasional, the most powerful of armed separatist groups in the border region, declined Wednesday to comment about the attack while the leader of another insurgent group, the Patani United Liberation Organization, said it was not involved.

“PULO does not have a role in the attack at all,” Kasturi Mahkota told BenarNews in a text message.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha meanwhile called for the speedy arrest of the perpetrators.

“The prime minister expressed concerns and extended condolences to the family of the dead … and directed officials to speed up investigation and bring the attackers to justice as soon as possible,” a spokesman said.

In addition, a Thai government panel involved in Deep South peace talks spoke out against the attack.

“[We] condemn the mastermind on the violence – be it any group or persons – because it was deliberate at civilian and soft targets, a violation of human dignity, human rights and humanitarian principle,” the panel said in a statement Wednesday.

“The peace dialogue underlines the intent to promote and support peaceful solutions in a civilized way according to international norms and principles.”

Government officials and BRN began Malaysia-brokered peace negotiations in early 2020 – following years of talks between the government and MARA Patani, an umbrella group that brought together Deep South insurgent groups, including BRN.

Ongoing investigation

Authorities spent Wednesday cleaning up the bomb site filled with the charred wreckage of cars and motorcycles along with debris from the apartment building.

A southern army deputy commander who visited the site on Wednesday said investigators had made some progress in identifying and bringing the attackers to justice.

“The bomb-rigged pickup truck was not stolen and [we] have to investigate the connection of the owner and the attacker,” Maj. Gen. Pramote Prom-in, told reporters. “Anyway, the culprits were clearly insurgents.”   

On Tuesday, police detained and questioned a Pattani man, according to a security officer who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The officer did not elaborate about whether the man was a suspect in the attack in Narathiwat.

Pattani police questioned an employee of a used-car dealership who brokered the pickup truck’s sale to identify the owner.

Investigators also examined closed-circuit videos to track the route of at least two perpetrators who fled the scene on a motorcycle.

Since a separatist insurgency reignited in the Deep South in January 2004, at least 7,344 people have been killed and 13,641 injured in violence across the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking border region, according to data updated through March 2022 by Deep South Watch, a local think-tank.

The region along Thailand’s border with Malaysia encompasses Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala provinces, and four districts of Songkhla province. (Mariyam Ahmad/ Matahari Ismai | BenarNews)

Earthquake Hits West Java, Killing at Least 162 and Injuring Hundreds People

BANDUNG, LELEMUKU.COM - A strong, shallow earthquake struck Indonesia’s main island of Java Monday, killing at least 162 people and injuring hundreds.

The head of the country’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency said the earthquake damaged and toppled dozens of buildings. West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said that more 13,000 people whose homes had been heavily damaged were being transported to evacuation centers.

Hundreds of injured people fled into the streets of Cianjur, some covered in blood and debris. The U.S. Geological Survey said Cianjur was the epicenter of the magnitude 5.6 quake.

Shaking was felt in the capital, Jakarta, about 70 kilometers away, where some high-rise buildings were evacuated.

"The majority of those who died were children," Kamil said. He said many were public school students who had finished their regular classes for the day and were taking extra lessons at Islamic schools. Cianjur is known for having many Islamic boarding schools and mosques.

Emergency workers treated the injured on stretchers and blankets outside hospitals, on terraces and in parking lots in the Cianjur region.

"I fainted. It was very strong," Hasan, a construction worker who, like many Indonesians, uses one name, told The Associated Press. "I saw my friends running to escape from the building. But it was too late to get out and I was hit by the wall."

Several landslides closed roads near Cianjur. Among the dozens of buildings that were damaged was an Islamic boarding school, a hospital and other public facilities, authorities said. Power outages were reported.

Indonesia, with a population of more than 270 million people, is frequently hit by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

In the last two years, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 25 people and injured more than 460 in West Sumatra province, while a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed more than 100 people and injured nearly 6,500 in West Sulawesi province.

A powerful Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 killed nearly 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia. (VOA)

Qatar Opens Mideast's First FIFA World Cup Before Leaders and Fans

DOHA, LELEMUKU.COM - Qatar on Sunday opened the Middle East's first FIFA World Cup 2022 before global leaders and soccer fans who have poured into this energy-rich nation after it was battered by a regional boycott and international criticism.

With American actor Morgan Freeman's dulcet voice and an Arabian theme with camels, the opening ceremony began with a promise of "everyone is welcome."

Regardless of the outcome of Qatar versus Ecuador on the pitch, Doha already has drawn Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the opening ceremony and inaugural match of the tournament.

That Prince Mohammed, whose nation had closed Qatar's only land border to the world through the kingdom over a yearslong political dispute, will attend shows how far the rapprochement between the two nations has gone.

Newspaper columns during the crisis had even suggested digging a trench along the 87-kilometer (54-mile) border and filling it with nuclear waste at the height of the conflict. While rhetorical bluster, it showed how deeply the anger ran in the region amid the dispute — which Kuwait's then-ruler suggested nearly sparked a war.

Its root came from Qatar's stance in supporting the Islamists who rose to power in Egypt and elsewhere following the 2011 Arab Spring. While Qatar viewed their arrival as a sea change in the gerontocracies gripping the Mideast, other Gulf Arab nations saw the protests as a threat to their autocratic and hereditary rule.

Qatar also faced criticism from the West as groups they funded initially in Syria's civil war became extremists. Qatar later would deny that it ever funded Islamic extremists, despite criticism from across the American political spectrum from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump.

Qatar, like Saudi Arabia, follows an ultraconservative version of Islam known as Wahhabism. Yet the country allows alcohol to be served in hotel bars and at a FIFA Fan Zone in the country. Already, some in the country have criticized what they view as Western cultural extravaganzas of the tournament — likely leading to the stadium beer ban.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based arm of the extremist group, issued a communique Saturday criticizing the Qataris for hosting a tournament "bringing immoral people, homosexuals, sowers of corruption and atheism."

"We warn our Muslim brothers from following this event or attending it," the group said, calling on scholars not to support it. However, the al-Qaida arm did not directly threaten the tournament and has been weakened by years of drone strikes from American forces and engulfed by Yemen's ongoing war.

On hand Sunday night at the opening was U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Kuwait's crown prince also came, along with the director-general of the World Health Organization and Djibouti's president. Also present was Jordan's King Abdullah II.

But the biggest applause came for Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and his father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who secured the tournament back in 2010.

Meanwhile, Iran sent just its minister of youth and sports — not its hard-line president — as the Islamic Republic faces monthslong protests over the death of a 22-year-old woman earlier detained by the country's morality police.

It remains unclear at what level Western nations will attend the ceremony and match Sunday night. Qatar has come under withering criticism for its stance on LGBTQ rights and its treatment of the low-paid laborers who built the over $200 billion in infrastructure ahead of the tournament.

But ahead of the match, an honor guard on camels and Arabian horses, some with M4 rifles slung over their shoulders, awaited the VIPs — and even VVIPs according to the road signs — expected for the event. (VOA)

HRW Urges Qatar and FIFA to Acknowledge World Cup Rights Abuses

DOHA, LELEMUKU.COM - Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s president, has taken exception to criticism that FIFA, soccer’s governing board, and Qatar, where this year’s World Cup is being held, have run roughshod over the rights of migrant workers drawn to the Middle Eastern country on promises that they would be paid fairly for their work in constructing the numerous facilities needed for the soccer tournament.

“Today I feel Qatari,” Infantino said Saturday at the start of his first news conference of the World Cup. “Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker.”

Human Rights Watch and a coalition of rights organizations have urged Qatar and FIFA to make a commitment to acknowledge and remedy the labor and human rights abuses that thousands of migrant workers suffered while preparing Qatar to host the sports event.

Rights groups have accused Qatar of subjecting migrant workers to harsh working conditions that include nonpayment of wages and long hours in oppressive heat.

Michael Page, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Middle East and North Arica director, said, “FIFA’s failure to provide a remedy while accruing billions of dollars in revenue has left everything in sight in Qatar – from the roads to the stadiums – as reminders of the migrant workers who built and delivered the games but did not receive their wages or died with no compensation for their families.”

Infantino, meanwhile, praised Qatar for allowing the migrants to work and chided European countries for restricting the flow of migrants.

“We in Europe, we close our borders and we don’t allow practically any worker from those countries, who earn obviously very low income, to work legally in our countries,” Infantino said.

“If Europe would really care about the destiny of these people, these young people, then Europe could also do as Qatar did. But give them some work. Give them some future. Give them some hope. But this moral-lesson giving, one-sided, it is just hypocrisy.”

Shariful Hasan, program head of the Migration Program and Youth Initiatives of BRAC, a development organization in Bangladesh, says more than 1,300 Bangladeshi workers died in Qatar, with many of the deaths attributed to heart attacks.

“We must answer to the people who have died – not only in Qatar but in any Middle Eastern country,” he said. “We cannot forget this pain. ... It is not only the hard work of the migrants; it is their blood. It is their life.”

HRW says the reforms that Qatar has recently adopted have come “either too late, were too narrow in scope, or were too weakly implemented for many workers to benefit.”

Companies have often failed to notify families when their loved ones have died, HRW says, and have also failed to help or repatriate workers or their bodies to their home countries.

The World Cup opens Sunday. (VOA)

Journalists Obstructed Covering Events in Cambodia and Indonesia

PHNOMPENH, LELEMUKU.COM - Journalists covering two major international events in Cambodia and Indonesia this week have been obstructed from their work.

A producer for the U.S. news outlet ABC News was pushed when she tried to ask a question during President Joe Biden’s meeting with China’s leader Xi Jinping.

Separately, journalists from the Voice of America (VOA) and Voice of Democracy (VOD) were denied access to a press conference by Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen during the ASEAN summit being hosted in the country.

White House pool reporter Molly Nagle, of ABC News, on Monday was part of the small media group covering the start of President’s meeting with Xi.

During a break, Nagle called out a question directed at Biden, asking if he would include rights issues during the meetings.

But an unidentified person believed to be part of the Chinese delegation pulled the journalist backwards so that she momentarily lost her balance.

The man, described as wearing a face mask with a Chinese flag on it, then pushed her toward the door, according to Agence France-Presse.

The AFP reports that two White House staff members intervened, saying the producer should be left alone.

VOA emailed the spokesperson for China’s Washington embassy for comment but did not receive a response.

Separately in Cambodia on Sunday, journalists from VOA’s Khmer service and the independent broadcaster VOD were denied access to a Hun Sen press conference.

Both media outlets had registered to cover the post-ASEAN summit press conference at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, but were not given passes.

The Cambodian Center for Independent Media, the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association and the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia have jointly called on Cambodia’s Ministry of Information to clarify why the journalists were denied entry.

“Since the prime minister welcomed questions from the media, we would like to know why journalists from VOD and VOA were not welcome to ask questions,” read the joint statement published Monday.

The media associations called on the ministry to “explain this apparent discrimination against journalists from certain news outlets.”

According to the group, two members of the Ministry of Information’s press staff said their supervisor would not allow VOD and VOA journalists to attend the conference with Hun Sen.

Pa Sokheng, a reporter for VOD whose application was not granted, expressed “deep disappointment” and said there should be no discrimination and restrictions on media outlets.

"Banning journalists to listen and ask questions … shows that the state is trying to hide any loopholes of society development rather than finding a solution,” she told VOA Khmer.

Ith Sothoeuth, media director at the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, said allowing some media to attend but not others “shows the unequal treatment of journalists.”

A spokesperson for VOA’s public relations department described the block on its journalists and others as “deeply concerning.”

“These actions by Cambodian officials are in direct opposition to the values of democratic societies,” VOA’s spokesperson said via email. “We stand with our audience in Cambodia, and we will continue to offer them accurate, balanced and comprehensive journalism in English and in the Khmer language.”

Phos Sovann, a spokesperson for Cambodia’s Information Ministry, said the prime minister’s office’s protocol doesn’t allow for VOA and VOD reporters to cover Hun Sen’s event.

The reason, the spokesperson said, is because the two media outlets do not run the leader’s speech in full. That approach, the spokesperson said, causes confusion.

Hun Sen’s speeches and events are usually broadcast on Facebook Live but for this event, journalists needed a pass to attend.

The ministry spokesperson rejected concerns at apparent discrimination, saying that only two media outlets are blocked and that “several others are allowed.”

In ABC reporter Nagle’s case in Indonesia, the White House pool reporter documented the incident in her report.

“I was pulled backwards by my backpack as I shouted, by a member of the Chinese group,” she wrote. “I stumbled back and then was pushed toward the door, knocking me off my balance. (Lors Liblib / Sun Narin | VOA)

Aid Groups Ready to Deliver Aid to Tigray After Cease-fire Between Ethiopia's Government and Rebels

ADDIS ABABA, LELEMUKU.COM - Aid groups say they are ready to deliver much-needed food and medicine to Ethiopia's northern Tigray region after the warring sides agreed to a cease-fire Wednesday.

The deal between the Tigray rebels and Ethiopia's government commits federal officials to ensure "unhindered humanitarian access" to Tigray, which is in the grip of one of the world's biggest humanitarian crises.

Some 5 million people there need humanitarian assistance, while doctors at the region's flagship Ayder Hospital say they have run out of medicines to treat sick patients.

Representatives of the World Food Program and the International Committee of the Red Cross told VOA their organizations were ready to send trucks carrying aid supplies into Tigray but have not been given the green light by the federal government.

Jude Fuhnwi, a spokesperson for the ICRC in Ethiopia, welcomed the signing of the deal Wednesday, saying the conflict has caused "vast civilian suffering" since it broke out two years ago.

"The ICRC remains committed to supporting the population of northern Ethiopia. And we have already made the necessary preparations to immediately dispatch our next humanitarian supplies by air and by road, as soon as the humanitarian routes are open," Fuhnwi said.

Roughly one-third of children and three-quarters of lactating mothers screened for malnutrition in Tigray last week displayed signs of malnourishment.

Meanwhile, fighting has displaced around half a million people in northwestern Tigray. Most of them are cut off from aid distributions.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told reporters that they "are in contact with the government of Ethiopia and others to resume the movement of aid convoys and personnel" to the cities of Mekelle and Shire.

Aid deliveries to Tigray have been severely restricted since the war in northern Ethiopia began. No aid trucks have entered the region since fresh fighting erupted on August 24.

Aid deliveries have resumed to parts of the Amhara and Afar regions next to Tigray that were also affected by the fighting. (Fred Harter | VOA)