Nuclear bill: A ploy to build power plants?
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)