Batan optimistic on nuclear plan

Batan optimistic on nuclear plan

DARWIN (Reuter): The deputy director general of Indonesia's national atomic energy agency (Batan) said yesterday he was optimistic that the government would approve the construction of a nuclear power station in Java.

"From the various studies conducted to date, it can be concluded that nuclear power has a very good prospect in Indonesia," Agar Djaloeis told a uranium conference here.

Djaloeis said rapid depletion of Indonesia's hydrocarbon reserves, together with environmental considerations, indicated that both nuclear and coal-fired power stations presented the country with an optimal solution to its long-term power needs.

Political opposition to the nuclear plant was not seen as a serious matter, Djaloeis said. There were some strong voices against the nuclear plant by a "very small minority," he said.

"But to a large extent, our people are not educated enough to assess the pros and cons of nuclear power," he said.

He said he believed that in the "silent majority" there was practically no significant voice in opposition to nuclear power.

The nuclear plant, Indonesia's first, is proposed for the Ujung Lemah Abang area on the northern part of the Muria Peninsula in the northern coast of central Java, he said.

Djaloeis said the nearby volcanic Muria mountain had been inactive for 320 years and posed no threat.

"We are now waiting for a government assessment of the feasibility study," he said.

"The government will decide in consultation with the parliament on whether to give the green or red light," he said.

"If it's green then a share of Indonesia's power generation will go to nuclear," he added.

Djaloeis said the plant, if approved, would require between 120 and 180 tons of uranium a year.

It is foreseen that the nuclear power plant would have the capacity to generate 7,200 megawatts by 2015, he said.

Westinghouse Electric Co, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Samsung Corp had started a feasibility study to introduce a nuclear power station on a build/own/operate basis, Djaloeis said.

General Electric Co and Atomic Energy of Canada-SNC/Lavalin of Canada had arranged different studies, he added.