Gov't delays use of nuclear power

JAKARTA (JP): The government chose natural gas over nuclear energy yesterday when it indefinitely delayed plans to build a nuclear power plant.

The growing need for electricity in Java would be supplied by gas from the huge reserves in the Natuna Islands, State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie said.

Habibie, who chairs the Natuna Development Agency, said the government planned to pipe the Natuna gas to Java.

The Natuna gas project is expected to generate 4000 MW of electricity in Java by 2004 and this should grow to 8000 MW when the first phase of the project is completed.

This will exceed the 7200 MW of electricity that the original nuclear power plant, scheduled for 2003, would have provided, he said.

The Natuna gas field contains 222 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. A $40 billion project is underway to extract the gas by a consortium consisting of the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina and Mobil Oil Corp and Exxon Corp from the United States.

The government had been expected to announce its decision to go nuclear this year.

Speculation grew in February after the House of Representatives passed into law a bill on nuclear power which would legitimize the use of a nuclear power plant.

Feasibility and site studies have been completed, with the Muria peninsula in Central Java chosen to host Indonesia's first nuclear power plant.

The Agency for Technology Assessment and Application (BPPT) -- which Habibie chairs -- started preparatory work for the nuclear plant 20 years. Before the Natuna discovery there were fears that Indonesia's oil and gas resources would be depleted by the turn of the century.

Habibie said the government had not shelved the nuclear power plant because sooner or later Indonesia would have to rely on this type of energy.

The government had regarded nuclear as the last alternative source of energy after other options had been tapped, he said.

"We have to thank God that we don't have to use nuclear in the foreseeable future because of Natuna," Habibie said.

The nuclear power project was also delayed because the government wanted to make sure that Indonesia had the necessary skilled manpower to supervise and operate the facility, he said.

The Nuclear Power Law stipulates that nuclear power could not be utilized until the establishment of the Nuclear Technology Supervisory Board, he said.

Preparing the experts to staff the board would be a lengthy process. (10)