What Hampers Nuclear Energy Development in Indonesia

What Hampers Nuclear Energy Development in Indonesia

Research and Technology Minister Mohamad Nasir said social factor is likely
the only hurdle hampering development of nuclear power plants (PLTN) in
Indonesia.

Nasir said he recently went to Bangka-Belitung, to discuss possibility of
building a nuclear power plant there. The provincial administration of
Bangka Belitung has said it would welcome plan to build the country's first
nuclear plant in that region.

The first plan to build larger-scale plant on Central Java's Muria peninsula
met with resistance from local residents who feared leaks on the scale of
the Fukushima disaster in equally earthquake-prone Japan.

Another place that was under consideration to host a nuclear power plant was
Kalimantan, where there are no volcanoes and the relatively large distance
from tectonic fault lines meaning that the chance of devastating earthquakes
is limited.Proposal to develop nuclear energy to generate electricity has
always triggered controversy in the country.

"The hurdle hampering plan to build a nuclear power plant in the country is
social factor. Sheer mention of nuclear energy would bring fear of something
frightening to the minds of the people, while the whole world is heading in
that direction," Nasir said here on Sunday.

He cited France is heavily dependent on PLTNs and the United Arab Emirates,
the fourth largest oil producer and has no problem in oil fuel supply, is
now building PLTNs.

"There are four units of PLTN , they are building each with a capacity of
1,500 Mega Watts or a total of 5,600 MW. That capacity would be enough to
meet Java's energy requirement," he said.

The Indonesian people still could not accept nuclear energy to generate
power out of fear of leaks while the nuclear energy technology has reached
the fourth generation, he said.

He said with the latest technology, the reactor would automatically stop
functioning in the event of natural disaster such as earthquake. The nuclear
power technology of fourth generation called High Temperature Gas-Cooled
Reactor (HTGR)has been developed in France and Russia, Nasir said.

"The ones in Fukushima, Japan, were of the first generation. The fourth
generation is far safer," he said.

Earthquake 9 on the Richter scale, and great tsunami in March 2011 inflicted
tremendous damage to the northern part of Japan, the worst nuclear accident
in the world since Chernobyl.

Nasir said Indonesia already has four reactors of laboratory scale located
in Yogyakarta, Bandung, Serpong and Jakarta, used for food and health
research.

"This means we have the experience to safely manage the technology . We need
only to upgrade the research to the level of energy generation," he said.

As for commercial purpose, the authority is in the hand of the Energy and
Mineral Resource Ministry, he said, adding the basic materials, both uranium
and thorium, are all available in the country.

Earlier, former ESDM Minister Nasir predecessor Sudirman Said was quoted as
saying Indonesia will not resort to nuclear energy to meet its target of
136.7 gigawatt of power capacity by 2025 and 430 gigawatt by 2050.

"We have arrived at the conclusion that this is not the time to build up
nuclear power capacity. We still have many alternatives and we do not need
to raise any controversies," Sudirman said.

He said Indonesia will continue to follow developments in the field of
nuclear technology and that it would remain a last-resort option for
possible use beyond 2050.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.en.netralnews.com/news/currentnews/read/4257/what.hampers.nuclear
.energy.development.in.indonesia

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com