Say No To Nuke Idea

Senin, 7 November 2011 21:50 WIB

Pekanbaru, (ANTARARIAU News) - The idea of building a nuclear power plant to produce electricity cheaply cannot be applied in Indonesia due to the country's geographical conditions, Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Widjajono Purwowidagdo said.

Indonesia's geographical conditions were a major consideration not to build nuclear power plant in the country, he said here Monday (7/11).

Before nuclear energy could actually be developed in Indonesia, many things must be considered such as efficiency, safety, the readiness of human resources and political need, Widjajono said.

"Indonesia lies on a ring of fire, is prone to disasters that can damage a (nuclear) reactor or installation," he said.

Widjajono recalled the accidents that occurred at nuclear reactors in other countries such as Russia and Japan in the past.

"We all know how advanced Japan is in technology but recently we also witnessed the tragedy caused by the leaking of the Fukushima nuclear power plant," he said.

Widjajono said Indonesia could utilize nuclear energy only as a last option because the country still had many kinds of other potential energy sources.
He said he was more comfortable with plans to further develop the country's gas, coal and geothermal reserves alternative energy sources.

"Germany has decided to shut down its nuclear energy power plants, yet we know they are so much more advanced in the mastery of technology and in discipline than we in Indonesia," he said.

But if somehow Indonesia absolutely needed to build nuclear power facilities, it would be better do so in cooperation with Singapore which had a higher level of discipline and mastery of technology than Indonesia.

Drastically increasing demand for energy was not the only reason why other countries had built nuclear plants, according to the deputy minister. There were other reasons related with international politics and national security, he said.

Indonesia did not have such ulterior reasons and was in human resources terms not yet ready to build nuclear power plants, Widjajono said.

He then mentioned Vietnam as an example of another country building a nuclear power facility for reasons other than just growing demand for electricity. Vietnam wanted to have a nuclear power plant because of the threat from China over disputed parts of the South China Sea, he said.