Malaysia's nuclear plan delayed

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The Malaysian government had said in December 2010 that it planned to build two nuclear power plants to meet rising energy demand, one by 2021 and the second a year later.

But Mohamad ZamZam Jaafar, chief executive of Malaysia Nuclear Power Corp, said a feasibility study for the construction of the plants had been pushed back by six months.

"Our plan is delayed slightly," he said, adding the study might not be ready until late 2014, while construction of the first plant "may be later than 2021".

ZamZam spoke at the Nuclear Power Asia conference in the capital Kuala Lumpur, where industry figures and atomic experts have gathered to discuss the future of nuclear energy in the region.

ZamZam said the delays were due in part to the nuclear power industry's lingering public relations woes in the wake of the 2011 Japan disaster, in which a huge earthquake triggered a tsunami that knocked out a nuclear plant.

The meltdowns at Fukushima released large amounts of radiation and laid bare to the world the risks of nuclear power.

"Fukushima happened soon after we were set up. That put a damper on what we are trying to do."