Study of nuclear reactor project nearly complete

Study of nuclear reactor project nearly complete

JAKARTA (JP): The government has commissioned two foreign
consultancy companies to give a one-last overview of the various
feasibility studies conducted for Indonesia's first commercial
nuclear power plant.

Djali Ahimsa, director general of the National Atomic Agency,
said yesterday that earlier studies commissioned by the
government found the proposed project for the 7,000 megawatt
plant, to be built at Ujung Lemahabang in the Muria Peninsula,
Central Java, both commercially and technologically feasible.

Speaking during a hearing with a largely skeptical Commission
X of the House of Representatives, Djali said the government has
assigned Sargent & Lundy of the United States and Newjec of Japan
to review the results and give their independent opinions.

The studies should be completed next year and the project
would then be presented for a public debate before the government
makes its decision on whether Indonesia would go nuclear, he
added.

The government has commissioned the study to build Indonesia's
first nuclear power plant in spite of objections from various
quarters, saying that the country has to keep all options open
regarding its sources of energy.

Officials have pointed out that Indonesia will likely become a
net importer of oil, now a major source of foreign exchange
earning, at the turn of the century through a combination of
falling oil reserves and rapidly increasing domestic demands.

Most members of the House's commission were not convinced
yesterday about Indonesia's capability in handling a nuclear
power plant and dealing with the potential hazards of nuclear
technology.

"We are still being haunted by the 1987 Chernobyl disaster,
the leakage at the Japanese nuclear plant in 1991, and the
explosion at the Serpong reactor last year," M.P. Pasaribu of the
ruling Golkar faction said.

The Serpong reactor is one of two small nuclear facilities
established in Indonesia chiefly for research purposes.

Pasaribu also noted that many huge projects undertaken by the
government turned out to be defective or of poor quality and said
he feared that the nuclear project could meet the same fate.

"Speaking in the name of the legislative body and of myself, I
ask the government to revise its plan for the project."

Laksmiari Priyonggo of the Indonesian Democratic party faction
stressed that the government must ensure the political support of
the people before deciding to build the project. "The project may
be technically and economically feasible but it still needs to
have the political support of the people," she said.

Djali pleaded for the House to look at the issue from its
overall perspective, rather than looking at the piece-by-piece
information that it is receiving.

The Chernobyl accident was an exceptional case, while the
accident in Japan did not cause any human casualties, he pointed
out. The explosion in Serpong occurred at a construction site and
had nothing to do with the nuclear facility, he added.

He also said that Indonesia has already prepared the necessary
manpower to handle nuclear power plants.

If the project is approved next year, construction could start
in 1998 and the nuclear power plant could become operational by
2004, ready to supply electricity to Java and Bali, he said.
(rms)