On Nuclear Energy, Prabowo: Why Not, Nuclear Power is the Cheapest

President Prabowo Subianto has opened the possibility of using nuclear energy as a power generation source in Indonesia, although he emphasised that the final decision will still depend on studies by experts.

“It will depend on the experts. If we can use it, why not? Nuclear power is actually the cheapest. It’s also the cleanest. The only issue is how we can handle the safety. That’s the problem,” he said during a discussion with several figures broadcast on the Prabowo Subianto YouTube channel, quoted on Sunday (22/3).

On the other hand, Prabowo assessed that Indonesia has great potential in renewable energy, particularly solar power and biofuels. He stated that developing solar energy on a large scale could become a long-term solution.

According to him, developing solar energy requires vast land, but this is still considered feasible given the availability of land in various regions.

Prabowo added that Indonesia has tens of thousands of villages that can serve as a base for developing renewable energy, especially outside Java, which still has considerable land availability.

“If it’s a village outside Java, finding 1 hectare is no problem,” he explained.

Meanwhile, on Java, he mentioned that there is still land that has not been optimally utilised, such as land with business use rights (HGU) status or forestry areas.

“If on Java we’ve calculated, we have a lot of land. There are HGU lands that are not worked on. There are Perhutani lands that are not worked on,” he stated.