Foreign Media Highlights Indonesia's Nuclear Project Plan on Uninhabited Island
Indonesia is reviving its plans to build a nuclear power plant, with one of the targeted locations being an uninhabited island in West Kalimantan. The plan has drawn attention from Japanese media amid Indonesia’s efforts to reduce its dependence on coal and pursue decarbonisation targets.
In a Kyodo News report titled ‘Indonesia eyes uninhabited island for 1st nuclear power plant’, Acting Head of the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (BAPETEN) Zainal Arifin said the current moment is the right time for Indonesia to make a decision regarding the construction of a nuclear power plant.
‘This is the right moment for Indonesia to make a decision regarding nuclear power plants,’ Zainal said in the report.
The government began reviving discussions on the nuclear project last year after the plan had been delayed for decades. Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Yuliot said Indonesia’s new energy strategy will explicitly include nuclear energy to ‘balance the energy mix and achieve decarbonisation targets’.
One of the main candidate locations is Semesak Island in Bengkayang Regency, West Kalimantan. The island is approximately 900 metres from Sungai Raya Village and has no residents, although the surrounding waters are often used by fishermen to catch shrimp.
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is targeting Indonesia’s first nuclear power plant to be operational by 2032 at the earliest. The government is also aiming for nuclear energy to contribute up to 12.1% of the primary energy mix by 2060, with installed capacity reaching 35-42 gigawatts.
The plan has received support from Bengkayang Regent Sebastianus Darwis, who hopes the nuclear power plant can serve as a catalyst for bringing industry to the region.
‘Nuclear is clean energy. It is proof of a developed nation and brings pride,’ Darwis told Kyodo News, expressing hope that Bengkayang could become the first region in Southeast Asia to operate a nuclear power plant.
However, the plan has also raised concerns among residents and energy watchdog groups. Fisherman Haripan said he is afraid of the impact of a nuclear power plant and the possibility of accidents like Chernobyl or Fukushima.
Meanwhile, Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) Fabby Tumiwa assessed that the project still faces economic and safety issues.
‘I am very critical of this. Not because of ideology, but because I see it as economically unfeasible and there are safety issues,’ he said.
The government plans to acquire approximately 300 hectares of land on the island and a buffer zone on the mainland opposite it. Indonesia has also begun receiving international support, including from Japan and Russia, while the government has stated it will prioritise small modular reactor (SMR) technology in the development of its first nuclear power plant.