Abstract
The 2005-07 spike in petroleum prices topping out at $100 a barrel has prodded economic planners across the globe to reconsider their energy options in an age of growing concern over global warming and carbon emissions. The Southeast Asian economies, themselves beneficiaries of an oil and gas export bonanza through the 1970s-1990s, also find themselves in an energy crunch as once ample reserves run down and the search is on for new and cleaner energy supplies. Notably, regional leaders at the 13^th ASEAN Summit meeting held in Singapore in November 2007 issued a statement promoting civilian nuclear power, alongside renewable and alternative energy sources. ASEAN–which in 1971 endorsed a nuclear-free zone concept–also sought to ensure that plutonium did not fall into the wrong hands through the creation of a “regional nuclear safety regime.” In response, environmental activists across the region cited concerns over nuclear power, citing safety and unstable regional geologies concerns. Undoubtedly they were taking a cue from Japan’s recent nuclear disaster. Singapore, host of the ASEAN summit meeting, made known its concerns.
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