Commentary: The Future of Nuclear Energy in Indonesia

Commentary: The Future of Nuclear Energy in Indonesia

Indonesia has substantial natural resources in the world, including
potential area of various energy and mineral resources. These natural
resources, including tin, nickel, copper, gold, oil, gas, coal and other
minerals have sustained important role to the national economy.

Most of the Indonesian territories have not been explored thoroughly due to
a lack of infrastructure and therefore the requirements to discover new
reliable energy and mineral deposits is likely to be significant. However,
fossil fuels are still the leading source of energy and primary source of
export income of the last few decades, thus it may bring a rapid depletion
in the near future.

Among those energy and mineral resources, many are considered non-renewable
resources in that their use is not sustainable. Therefore, their utilization
involve a proper strategy and they could be continuously beneficial both
domestically and internationally and for the future generations as well.
Additionally, natural resource exploitation is creating damage in the
environment, properly defining regulations regarding to this concern are
urgently needed to maintain such negative impact to a minimum scale. More
resources should be provided to encompass this issue.

One of the other important energy source in Indonesia is uranium, in which
it is the largest producer of the Asia's reserves. Indonesia also has an
adequate of experience and infrastructure in nuclear technology research and
development. By considering the natural resource reserves, the application
of uranium in nuclear power plants will operate with a more powerful and
environment friendly energy source. The vision to have a nuclear power plant
is to promote fossil fuels for export commodities. Nuclear energy itself
represents the strength of the industry with its optimizing advantages and
as a future prospective in electricity demand.

Considerations for future nuclear energy.

Nuclear solution is going to become a role model and more beneficial in the
future of worldwide power manufacturing. The critical aspects are numerous,
somehow it could be pointed out by the efficient and reliable power
production with minimum disposal. In fact, nuclear energy will offer a
massive quantity of reliable electricity production at a relatively low
cost. The US, UK, China, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, India,
Japan, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine are developing
major nuclear energy sources.

The basic scientific process in a nuclear power plant is actually very
understandable and logical. Nuclear power plants utilize raw uranium to
supply or fuel a reactor in the nuclear industrial process. The fundamental
process is that the uranium will be compressed, since it is a radioactive
element and unstable and consistently discharges subatomic particles causing
a chain reaction in the reactor. The reaction process is rapid and will
generate the amounts of heat, evaporating the water into steam, thus
rotating the turbines and producing work (in terms of torque) from the shaft
connected to the generator for electricity conversion.

Nowadays, the recent issue of how further global warming could be prevented
or at least reduced, has been a primary concern for the government. Nuclear
power production generates relatively low amounts of carbon dioxide during
process and it is capable to produce a massive amount of electrical energy.
This possibility also does not go without having substantial disadvantages
and risks associated with nuclear power production. Some hesitations still
exist, such as the extremely hazardous waste from the nuclear power plant
and must be conscientiously monitored. Uranium is a non-renewable energy
resource, its supply is estimated to last only for the next decades and
could not be recreate in lifetimes. However, nuclear power plant is very
complicated to construct and operate. Numerous scientists and engineers are
needed to develop a safe and reliable nuclear power plant. This stipulation
is important due to the nuclear accident with harmful impacts on humans and
environment. Radioactive waste is extremely toxic, causing some serious
medical attentions, even small radiation leaks could cause devastating
effects such as risk for cancer, blood diseases, and bone damages.

History of nuclear power in Indonesia

Nuclear technology in Indonesia is not a fast-growth process and less
significant of attention from the government, compared to the other energy
resources, especially Natuna gas field (discovered in 1950s). Even though
the research and development on atomic energy also began in 1950s period. In
the long and slow progress, the government eventually announced at least
four nuclear power plants have been built until 2025, with the total
capacity to be at least 4,000 MW of electricity. However, the development of
this nuclear technology in Indonesia was not as expected. Protests against
these power plants embarked in 2007, thus postponing again the advancement
of nuclear technology.

In the long run of mid-2014, the Indonesian government in collaboration with
Russia confirmed that they were scheming to construct a 30 MW reactor
(Indonesia's first nuclear power plant). However, the government should put
an enthusiast interests on advancing nuclear technology and remains more
directly involved in the development of civil use of nuclear power. The
government has a major impact on the growth of nuclear power plant and
specific responsibilities of relevance to policymakers, funding issues, as
well as the support for research and developments to facilitate its
development.

Indonesia and nuclear future energy

Above perspectives have entail a new aspect and consideration for nuclear
power today in Indonesia. The author believe that the nuclear option should
be endorsed because it is a carbon-free energy source that can potentially
become a future prospective in the electricity demand. To explore the issue
of nuclear future energy in Indonesia, the outlook in Indonesia requires
three important scenarios: 1) This nuclear power expansion requires some
internal understanding of the development in nuclear science and technology
through research and development. 2) A critical factor for the future of
nuclear energy is the stability governance both economically and politically
to embody a nuclear future. Nuclear technology has higher overall lifetime
costs and it will require a tremendous financial effort. To preserve the
nuclear future, many attempts are required through government involvement in
safety as a vital aspect, waste concern, and good internal proliferation in
structurally to appreciate the possibility of technology to growth. 3)
Public acceptance and education for the development in nuclear technology
are the main issues to emphasize that come to pass controversial among the
public.

While Indonesia has massive renewable energy sources, it is still
insufficient to meet the energy supply of its capacity of the population.
Today, Indonesia is far from reliable to implement this technology. However,
nuclear power plant is typically regarded as a long-term project for
designing, implementing and decommissioning. Since Indonesia is endowed with
this scarce resource (uranium) well spread across its geographical area, a
political decision should be pursued to go nuclear with the availability of
human resources -- both domestically and internationally -- and good
cooperation to the vendors.

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Link to Original Article:
http://jakartaglobe.id/opinion/commentary-future-nuclear-energy-indonesia/

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com