Agency to move ahead with nuclear plant

JAKARTA (JP): Despite persistent protests from conservationists, the National Atomic Agency plans to go ahead with the construction of a nuclear power plant in Central Java.

Adi Wardojo, head of the Center for Nuclear Energy Studies of the National Atomic Agency, told a press conference here yesterday that the legal groundwork already existed for the construction of the reactor.

"Law No. 31/1964 on atomic energy grants authority to the National Atomic Agency to conduct research and build nuclear power plants," he said.

The plant, to be built in the Ujungwatu village, near Mount Muria, would use a "defense in depth" system, in which there would be layers of protection to contain nuclear radiation, he said.

He did not say when construction work would begin.

State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said earlier this week that the government had no intention of constructing any nuclear power plants in either the current or the next Five-Year Development Plan period.

Yesterday, Kompas quoted Alex Toohey of the World Coal Institute as saying in a seminar on coal and steam-generated power plants held recently that coal energy was still cheaper and safer than nuclear power.

"Environmental damage from coal-generated power plants can be dealt with by existing technology, whereas damage caused by nuclear power plants cannot be handled very well," he said, as quoted by the daily.

Adi did not deny that Indonesia did not as yet have any nuclear waste treatment facilities. He said the nuclear power reactors in Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Jakarta could only keep their nuclear waste in safe places until its radiative content disintegrated naturally.

He also admitted that Indonesia had yet to acquire experts on nuclear power, either from among local scientists or from abroad.

The government has taken a cautious stance over the matter, with President Soeharto saying that nuclear power would be considered only after all alternative sources--solar, coal, water--were no longer sufficiently available.

"Nuclear energy would be the last option in meeting the country's energy needs," Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie has stated.

As on many previous occasions, the agency said nuclear power was superior to other sources of energy.

Adi said that "the use of nuclear technology is safe, reliable, clean, environmentally-oriented, and relatively economical."

He said public fears about accidents and leakages were unwarranted. "We can assure you that the Chernobyl tragedy will not occur here," he said.

He said research had shown that the risks of accidents in nuclear power plants could be minimized through the use of the latest technology.

The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) continues to object to the lack of public debate about the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power. During the past seven months the organization has thrice tried to hold such a debate but in each case the organization has either been denied a permit to hold the gathering or the meeting has been disbanded by the authorities. (imn)