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)