Nuclear bill: A ploy to build power plants?

JAKARTA (JP): As deliberation draws to a close, it is becoming obvious that the government drafted the nuclear energy bill to legalize its controversial plans for building nuclear power plants, a legislator said yesterday.

Laksmiari Priyonggo, a legislator from the minority Indonesian Democratic Party, who has been involved in the deliberation process, said the bill explicitly discusses matters related to nuclear power plants.

State Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie frequently referred to the planned nuclear plants when clarifying articles in the bill during debates, she said.

She said it was suspicious that Yos Subki, director general of the National Atomic Energy Agency, has expressed his optimism about the first nuclear power plant in Central Java going into operation in 2004, while the legal foundations were still in the making, she said.

"Doesn't it suggest the government is sponsoring the bill to pave the way for its plans to build nuclear plants?" Mire, as she is better known, said.

The government has repeatedly said Ujung Lemah Abang on Mount Muria is a feasible site for building the nuclear power plants it claims are urgently required to meet the rising demands for power in Java.

Critics say the plants would not only be too expensive but would pose a radiation catastrophe that Indonesia would be unable to handle if there was a nuclear accident.

Mire said legislators should fight for the revision of several potentially disastrous articles such as Article 22.

Article 22 says the government will make available a permanent nuclear waste dump where dumpers will have to pay an amount of money yet to be determined by the finance minister.

She questioned the logic behind the article saying that even wealthy countries with experience in nuclear issues do not want to dump their nuclear waste at home.

"They are tirelessly trying to persuading Third World countries to house their radioactive waste, no matter what the cost, so long as they don't have to dump it in their own backyards," she said.

She said it should be made clear whether Indonesia means to open one of its 17,000 islands, as a radioactive dump for hire, to other countries.

Mire also questioned the wisdom behind Article 28 of the bill which exempts the nuclear installation company from responsibility in cases of accident due to armed conflict or natural disaster.

"As long as the rich-poor gulf remains, armed conflict cannot be ruled out. Besides, Java lies in the Pacific ring of fire that is highly vulnerable to earthquakes," she said.

Article 36 is another that would need revision, she said. It rules that any claim for compensation should be laid no later than 30 years after the day of disaster.

Mire maintained that nuclear substances can linger from eight days, like Iodine 131, to 24,000 years, like Plutonium. (pan)