Govt may revive nuclear power plant project
Govt may revive nuclear power plant project
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is considering reviving a plan to build a
nuclear power plant in Muria Bay, Central Java to cope with
increasing power demand and declining reserves of primary energy,
a senior official said on Monday.
Yogo Pratomo, the director general of electricity and power
consumption at the Ministry of Energy, said if the plan went
ahead the power plant could start operations in 2016.
"Based on a study conducted by (National Nuclear Agency)
BATAN, the nuclear power plant project is feasible," Yogo told
reporters, while attending a power purchase agreement between
state electricity firm PT PLN and Mekarsari Village Cooperatives.
The New Order regime under the leadership of former president
Soeharto had planned to build a massive power plant in Muria Bay.
However, the plan met strong resistance from the public and non-
government organizations over concerns about public safety and
environmental hazards.
Yogo said PLN could begin building the power plant with a
capacity of 600 megawatts (MW) in 2011. The project would need an
estimated investment of US$9 billion and would take five years to
complete.
"Its capacity could be increased depending on the financing
(availability)," he said.
Yogo said PLN would seek to borrow money for the plant "from
abroad" but did not elaborate.
The plan to revive the construction of a nuclear power plant,
was to cope with growing demand for electricity, he said. Demand
for power in Indonesia was growing by an average of 7 percent per
annum, higher than the country's current growth in gross domestic
product (GDP).
Indonesia's total power capacity is 21,000 MW with Java and
Bali eating up a large chunk of 18,660 MW.
The current capacity is barely enough to meet electricity
demand. Last year, PLN was forced to apply rotating blackouts in
several parts of Java when some power plants ran into technical
problems.
Yogo said using nuclear energy was a useful alternative
because primary energy reserves used to fire coal and oil power
plants in Indonesia were depleting.