Nuclear supervisory agency to be set up

Nuclear supervisory agency to be set up

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto will set up an independent
nuclear energy supervisory agency, according to State Minister of
Research and Technology Rahardi Ramelan.

"God willing... the Nuclear Energy Supervisory Agency will be
set up next week," Rahardi told journalists after meeting with
Soeharto at the latter's private residence on Jl. Cendana,
Central Jakarta.

Rahardi said the new agency, to be officially set up by a
presidential decree, will supervise programs involving nuclear
energy. He said the agency would have 80 staff members, half from
the National Atomic Agency (Batan) and the rest from staff of his
ministry who had experience with nuclear programs.

"It will be professional and independent," Rahardi said.

"Do not only think that it has only to do with a nuclear power
plant because the use of (nuclear) isotopes is already quite
widespread," he added, saying isotopes were also in current use
in the health program and by industries.

Indonesia had earlier planned to build the country's first
nuclear power plant, an 800 Megawatt plant on the slopes of an
active volcano at the Muria Peninsula in Central Java.

The government has since temporarily shelved the plan until
other energy alternatives have been exhausted and additional
resources are available.

The plant would have been the first in a series of 12 on the
northern coast of Java with a total capacity of 7,000 MW. The
country, with its 202 million of population, currently relies on
hydro, coal and fuel generated electricity.

Also yesterday, Rahardi expressed hope that there would not be
a repeat of an incident in which a group from the National
Institute of Sciences (LIPI) made critical statements about
President Soeharto's leadership.

"Let's hope it won't happen again," Rahardi said after meeting
with President Soeharto at the latter's private residence on Jl.
Cendana, Central Jakarta.

Rahardi said LIPI researchers were members of the Indonesian
Civil Servants Corps (Korpri) and had to observe ethics on how to
voice their aspirations.

"The results (of their studies or discussions) should be
conveyed through the proper channel, instead."

A group of young researchers, including Syamsuddin Haris and
Hermawan Sulistyo, issued in January a statement of concern about
the government's poor handling of the economic crisis. They also
called on the nation to elect a new president for the sake of
much needed political and economic reforms. (swe/prb)