What kind of information did you prepare for Yingphan on this issue?
I don't think the Canadian government still questions the
research reactor bid. Canada has known about
it since last April when we chose the US-based company General Atomics
(GA). The company took back its Bt150 million bank guarantee and
the government accepted our rejection and never complained to the
OAEP about our decision.
Discussions between Thailand and Canada should be about
a future nuclear power plant, rather than
about past problems which have been cleared up. Possible topics for
talks about nuclear power plants
include further studies for the project. We can talk about cooperation
and support [for studying a
nuclear power plant project] from Canada to Thailand.
In fact, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested raising
the issue of working with Canada on a joint
nuclear power plant project at a meeting last year. But
we decided that we're still not ready to start
the project.
What condition made GA win over Canada's AECL and the other companies?
First, AECL wanted to limit the fine for any delay caused
by the company to not more than five per
cent of the contract price, but [Thailand] wanted it to
be unlimited.
Normally, the compensation a company must pay is
set at 0.1 per cent of the contract price per day. Second, AECL wanted
to limit the potential compensation for any damage to the project, while
we
wanted them to pay the full, real cost of any damage which occurred.
There were seven companies out of the original 11 which
passed the pre-qualification selection
process. Later, Japan withdrew, maybe because they believed
they could not win the contract as their
bid was too high.
GA was one of three companies which said they would take
responsibility for all pre-operation damages,
while Canada's AECL, and the companies from France and
Germany refused and rejected the terms. The other two companies which were
selected at this stage were from China and Argentina.
What is the exact cost of the reactor and how much higher
is it from the original proposal approved by
the Cabinet in 1993?
The current cost, which is awaiting Cabinet approval, is
about Bt3.3 billion. But I cannot tell you
the first proposed cost that was approved in 1993.
Why do you need to seek Cabinet approval again?
The best I can say is that the contract with GA is higher than the proposed project cost already approved by the Cabinet. Let's say the former cost was between Bt2 million to Bt3 billion.
What is the next step for the nuclear power plant project?
We first scheduled a meeting of the national committee which was established to conduct the feasibility study for the nuclear power plant project. But the committee was abolished following the end of the Banharn government. We were informed about the abolition in December and I've submitted [a request] to the Chavalit government to re-establish the committee.
All the proposed members are the same [as previously].