[Kabar-indonesia] Indonesia: A Nuclear Future For An Earthquake Country?

[Joyo at aol.com]

Paras Indonesia 
June 30, 2006

A Nuclear Future For An Earthquake Country?

By Roy Tupai 

Indonesia is pressing ahead with plans to construct a
nuclear power plant on the densely-populated slopes of
Mount Muria – a dormant volcano in Jepara regency on
the northern coast of Central Java – despite concerns
over the enforcement of safety standards and the
area's susceptibility to earthquakes.

The government says the move is necessary to meet
growing demand for energy, even though Indonesia is
one of the world's top producers of natural gas and a
member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries.

"We are continuing to make preparations, including the
formulation of the project's specifications and the
body that will manage it, namely the Nuclear Power
Management Agency," Energy and Mineral Resources
Minister PurnomoYusgiantoro was quoted as saying
Wednesday (28/6/06) by state news agency Antara.

He was speaking after a meeting with Vice President
Jusuf Kalla, State Enterprises Minister Sugiharto and
the acting president director of state-owned
electricity company PLN.

Purnomo said no domestic investors had yet expressed
readiness to put their money in the project. "We are
still making preparations. Later we will invite
companies to bid, probably next year," he said.

The minister said the project would likely commence in
2010 and be completed by 2015 or 2016. "If it is to be
built from 2010, preparations will be from 2007 to
2008. So there will be no delay," he said.

He said the plant would likely have a capacity of
4,000 megawatts, which would be developed in several
stages.

Commenting on the technology that would be used, he
said the country's experts are still studying various
systems, such as the pressurized water reactor system,
which is used in reactors in France, the US, South
Korea and Japan.

Environmentalists and non-government organizations
have warned that building a nuclear power plant on
Java would be folly because of Indonesia's endemic
corruption, poor enforcement of safety standards and
susceptibility to earthquakes.

Critics say the government should instead concentrate
on reducing corruption within PLN and state oil and
gas firm Pertamina. They warn that in the event of a
nuclear meltdown triggered by an earthquake or human
error, the fallout could soon spread to nearby islands
and neighboring countries.

Only Five Years? Research and Technology Minister
Kusmayanto Kadiman on Tuesday said Indonesia could be
using nuclear power by 2011 if the project commences
this year. "If we start building it this year, the
soonest we can have a nuclear power plant is in five
years time," he said after accompanying visiting
Iranian Research and Technology Minister Muhammad
Mehdi Zahedi at a meeting with Kalla.

Kadiman said Kalla had ordered a crash program to
develop new electricity supplies to meet the country's
growing demand for power, so nuclear energy was seen
as one of the main solutions. "If the vice president
said it is a crash program, why not? This means
acceleration," he said.

He said PLN had signed a memorandum of understanding
with a South Korean company on the building of a
nuclear power plant in Indonesia.

The company is Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company,
a subsidiary of state-run Korea Electric Power
Corporation.

Kadiman said plans for a nuclear power plant at Mount
Muria were proposed a long time ago but never became a
reality due to political issues and the abundance of
gas and coal reserves. "However, nuclear energy has
been included in the current national policy," he
said.

He played down the possibility that Indonesia would
seek assistance from Iran to develop the nuclear power
plant, saying that other countries, such as South
Korea and Japan, have the technology, experience and
funding. "What we want is for the foreign country to
come to Indonesia with the nuclear technology and
necessary funds, and we will provide the site."

Although Purnomo claimed no Indonesian company had
expressed readiness to invest in the project, Kadiman
said a national private company was prepared to build
the nuclear power plant if the government first
guarantees to purchase its electricity. He refused to
name the company.

In May 2005, Kadiman had said Indonesia would develop
nuclear power by 2017 for peaceful purposes, including
power stations. He said the site would be in Madura
(an island off East Java) or Muria, "but if these
proposals are turned down it will be no problem to
move to earthquake-free Kalimantan".

Old News Plans for Indonesian nuclear power plants at
Mount Muria were first raised in the mid-1990s during
the regime of former president Suharto, when B.J.
Habibie was research and technology minister. The
government had conducted a feasibility study into
constructing 12 nuclear power plants, each with a
capacity of 600 megawatts, but criticism from
environmentalists and the regional economic crisis of
1998 resulted in the plan being shelved indefinitely.

In October 2001, Indonesia and South Korea signed a
memorandum of understanding to study the feasibility
of developing a nuclear desalination plant on the
impoverished and overpopulated island of Madura off
the northern coast of East Java.

The agreement was part of a technical cooperation
project under the auspices of the International Atomic
Energy Agency to establish nuclear power and
desalination plants for the production of potable
water and electricity. Madura has a population of 2.8
million people and an area of about 4,250 square
kilometers.

In 2002, the Nuclear Energy Control Board (Bapeten), a
non-departmental government agency, declared that
Indonesia should build a nuclear power plant by 2015
to meet growing demand for electricity. Then Bapeten
planning chief Yusri Heni said the project would be
very expensive and risky, but extremely beneficial to
the public as it would provide low-cost electricity.

In 2003, then research and technology minister Hatta
Radjasa, who now serves as transportation minister,
announced that Indonesia and South Korea were
considering jointly building a $200 million nuclear
power plant on Madura.

He said the planned nuclear plant would have a
capacity of 200 megawatts and come into operation in
2015 if the government approved the project, which he
claimed South Korea was prepared to fully fund.

In 2004, Radjasa said the National Nuclear Power
Agency (Batan) was conducting a feasibility study into
reviving the Muria project. He said a nuclear power
plant would only be built on Java if the public
accepts the project.

Under Radjasa's proposal, the Muria nuclear power
plant would have been built by 2012 at a cost of about
$12 billion.

Indonesia presently has four nuclear research
facilities, which are located in Jakarta, Bandung
(West Java), Serpong (Banten), and Yogyakarta. The
Jakarta facility is a laboratory for radiation
technology research, while the other three facilities
all have reactors and are used for scientific and
technological research and development in various
fields, with the exception of arms.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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