S.Korean official touts Turkey's nuclear energy prospects

The Turkish government should set up an agency to allay citizens' fears about nuclear energy and tell them it is the "cleanest and safest" option available, Rhee Jae-hwan, the head of South Korea's Nuclear Energy Promotion Agency, said yesterday. "There is a need to engage in efforts to resolve this tension by encouraging society to make rational judgments and to increase the level of public acceptance of nuclear energy. In other words, there is a need for nuclear communication," he explained. "Even oil-rich countries are taking the nuclear energy option. The United Arab Emirates, the world's fifth-largest oil producer, has decided to build four nuclear power stations." Turkey should follow the example set by South Korea, whose citizens immediately opposed plans to build the country's first nuclear power plant in 1971, Rhee said, adding that Seoul established an agency in 1992 to address public concerns about nuclear energy. "We need to ask why the world is defending nuclear energy amid plans to build 436 more plants by 2030," Rhee said, adding that advances in nuclear technology have made accidents extremely unlikely. "The world is turning to clean, safe nuclear energy due to dwindling oil resources," he said.