Officials defend plans for nuclear power plant

JAKARTA (JP): Officials yesterday defended the technical and economic viability of building a nuclear power plant in Indonesia, saying that the government would adopt a "safety- first" approach.

Yogo Pratomo, director of electric power planning at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said the demand for national energy is growing at over 9 percent a year and that nuclear power is inevitable if the country is to meet its increasing energy needs.

Speaking at a debate on nuclear energy, Yogo said that while Indonesia is endowed with many natural energy resources there is a limit as to how much the country can depend on its unrenewable assets.

That is why, he explained, the country has to diversify energy sources and why nuclear power remains a viable option.

Yogo contended that nuclear energy at the present stage is a viable alternative and perhaps the country's final option. Preparations for nuclear energy, he said, should not be started only after the natural resources have been exhausted.

"We shouldn't be dependent only on our natural sources, that's dangerous. We have to reduce dependency by diversifying," he said.

The government is currently contemplating the possibility of building a nuclear power plant to meet Indonesia's rising need for electricity. It is waiting to receive the results of a final feasibility study due to be completed at the end of May.

If approved, the National Atomic Agency (Batan) will start building a 1,800-megawatt plant in Ujungwatu village on the Muria peninsula, Central Java, in 1998 or 1999.

Companies from Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United States are bidding for the power plant contract.

Critics associated with the Indonesian Anti-Nuclear Society and the Indonesian Forum for Environment have opposed the plans, saying that it is unsafe particularly in Java which is home to numerous active volcanoes.

They also argue that a nuclear power plant would not be practical economically.

"Nuclear energy is not natural resource intensive, but technologically intensive," argued Iyos Subki, deputy director general of Batan.

He said by having access to inexpensive sources of electricity from nuclear power plants, local industries would be able to keep down production costs and be more competitive globally.

When asked about the costs of building a nuclear power plant, Iyos noted that while coal-fire-powered plants are cheaper to build, their fuel component is much more expensive and drives up electricity prices.

He argued that even though the initial investment in a nuclear plant is large, its operating costs are relatively low.

Imports of uranium are also not a concern, he said, as an abundance of it is available around the world at low prices.

Geological surveys have also found a 10,000-ton uranium deposit in West Kalimantan.

Iyos further pointed out that a nuclear plant using pressurized water reactor technology with a 1,000-megawatt capacity would need 27 tons of enriched uranium a year compared to a thermal plant which needs 2.6 million tons of coal.

Speaking on safety, Iyos said that nuclear energy projects around the world are developed with an emphasis on safety.

The aim is for the nuclear system to have a higher degree of safety than other systems, he said.

Iyos explained that the design of nuclear plants is based on the concept of "defense in depth", which is designed for prevention and early detection of deviations along with a reactor shut-down mechanism if the deviations continued.

In a diagram, he then presented an example of the safety features in a pressurized water reactor's core, which would be constructed from a 20-centimeter thick steel pressure vessel inside a seven-centimeter steel containment barrier surrounded by a 1.5-meter concrete structure. (mds/16)