Majority of Indonesians oppose nuclear plant: Poll<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Almost 80 percent of Indonesians are against
\nnuclear power stations being built here, according to a poll
\nconducted recently by a leading anti-nuclear group.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) announced yesterday
\nthe results of its survey of 1,000 people in eight cities in Java
\nand areas around the Muria Peninsula, the site of a planned
\nnuclear power plant.<\/p>\n
The study, conducted late last year, is considered to be
\nrepresentative of the public sentiment over the plan, the forum
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
As many as 88 percent of respondents said the final decision
\nof whether the country should have a nuclear power plant must be
\nleft to the people.<\/p>\n
Seventeen percent wanted the decision to be made through a
\nreferendum among people living in the area surrounding the
\nplanned site, 48 percent wanted it made through a national
\nreferendum, and 23 percent wanted the House of Representatives
\nto vote on it.<\/p>\n
The forum said 42.4 percent of those questioned were students,
\n\"who represent the generation of the owners of this country in
\nthe 2000s\", and only 1.7 percent were activists of non-
\ngovernmental organizations.<\/p>\n
The majority of the respondents were aged between 20 and 30,
\nthe forum said.<\/p>\n
In a separate move yesterday, seven other NGOs joined Walhi in
\ndemanding that the government scraps the plan to build the
\nnuclear power plant.<\/p>\n
Calling themselves the Anti-Nuclear Community, the groups also
\ndemanded that the government gives \"open access to information on
\nall development activities, including those concerning the plan
\nto construct a nuclear plant\".<\/p>\n
The activists also demanded that the government \"punish
\nofficials who create public anxiety with conflicting statements\"
\non the plan.<\/p>\n
The groups criticized the National Atomic Agency, for its
\nfailure to follow \"natural procedures for the establishment of a
\npower plant\".<\/p>\n
Despite previous statements that the government will consider
\na nuclear plant only as a last resort, officials have been
\nissuing statements as if the plan is already certain, the groups
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The atomic agency chief, Djali Ahimsa, and his staff members,
\ndenied that they have already set the construction schedule as
\nearlier press reports have suggested.<\/p>\n
The agency has conducted comprehensive, though preliminary,
\nstudies as to the feasibility and safety of the project, but they
\nhave not constituted the required Environmental Impact Assessment
\nstudy.<\/p>\n
Instead, the agency has to wait for a final status report from
\na hired consultant, and for the government to give it the go-
\nahead, before assembling experts and researchers from various
\nagencies to conduct the assessment.<\/p>\n
Djali said in a hearing yesterday with the House of
\nRepresentatives Commission X overseeing science and technology
\nthat he had never confirmed that the nuclear plant will be
\nconstructed in 1998, as reported.<\/p>\n
Instead, he was merely recounting to the press that if the
\nplant is to operate in 2003 or 2004, as the government had
\npreviously scheduled, then construction will have to start by
\n1998.<\/p>\n
The press reports about Djali's statement over the planned
\nconstruction by 1998 has created an uproar among anti-nuclear
\ncampaigners who believe that the government has been discreetly
\npushing forward with the plan.<\/p>\n
Soekarno Suyudi, the head of the agency's department for the
\ncooperation in science and technology, told The Jakarta Post that
\nthe preliminary studies included studies of the topography of the
\nsite, volcanology and seismology, meteorology, land and marine
\nuse, emergency planning, as well as social, economic and cultural
\naspects of the project.<\/p>\n
The agency maintains that a nuclear power plant is the answer
\nto the increasing demands for energy. \"Nuclear is called the
\nfinal alternative (for energy sources)...because others,
\nincluding coal-powered or solar-power plants, will not be able to
\nmeet the demands,\" Djali said. (swe)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/majority-of-indonesians-oppose-nuclear-plant-poll-1447893297",
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