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)