Govt to hold debate on nuclear plant

Govt to hold debate on nuclear plant

JAKARTA (JP): The government will hold a public debate later
this year on whether or not Indonesia should turn to nuclear
power to meet its ever growing energy needs, the chief of the
National Nuclear Power Agency (Batan) said yesterday.

Djali Ahimsa told Antara that he was planning to leave for
Japan shortly to study how that country organized the public
debate before it went nuclear.

He did not stipulate a date on which the public debate would
be held but said it would be before the end of the year.

Batan has promised that the government will not go ahead with
its plan to build Indonesia's first nuclear power plant before
the issue has been publicly debated, an unprecedented gesture in
Indonesia.

State Minister of National Development Planning/Chairman of
the National Development Planning Board Ginandjar Kartasasmita
suggested last week that the government should get into the habit
of holding public debates in relation to crucial decisions, in
order to secure the people's support.

The government has already employed a Japanese consultant to
study the feasibility of nuclear power plants in Indonesia and
hopes that construction of the first plants will begin on the
Muria Peninsula in Central Java in 1996.

Djali attended the inauguration of the Indonesian Nuclear
Society yesterday. He denied that the Society was intended to
help clear the way for the construction of the first plant.

He said that organizations that remained opposed to the Muria
Peninsula plant should join the Society to discuss the matter
there.

His suggestion was, however, quickly rejected by the
Indonesian Environmental Development Organization. Its chairman,
Agus Miftach, said yesterday that the establishment of the
Society was premature, given the still strong opposition to
nuclear power plants in Indonesia. (emb)