Thailand will go head with the plan to build a nuclear power plant by the year 2020 to meet the rising demand for electricity, Thailand's Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amaranand said Monday.

Thai News Agency quoted Piyasvasti as saying Monday at a speech that the nuclear facility is needed because of the rising consumption of electrical power.

Electricity use has risen 1.14 percent in comparison with economic growth of one percent, the minister said. On the other hand, nuclear power could generate electricity without exasperating global warming.

The action plan to build the nuclear power plant will be finished at the end of this year and preparation will take another seven years, while construction will be completed in 2020, according to Piyasvasti.

Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) director Kraisri Karnasuta said that the EGAT will clearly explain to the public the necessity to build the nuclear plant before construction starts.

EGAT is looking for an 800-acre (320 hectares) site to build the 4,000 megawatt power plan. The budget for the project is estimated at 6 billion U.S. dollars.

After completing the construction, the cost of producing electricity at the nuclear power plant will stay at 2.01 baht ( about 34 baht to one U.S. dollar) per unit, lower than the 2.05 baht per unit of the electricity produced by conventional coal- fired power plants, according to EGAT.

Source: Xinhua