Why shouldn't we operate a nuclear plant in Indonesia?

Why shouldn't we operate a nuclear plant in Indonesia?

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): Why shouldn't we operate a nuclear power plant yet? Because, basically, we are still too primitive.

Although no one will have difficulty agreeing that primitive people should not handle sensitive and potentially devastating technology like a nuclear power plant, many people will object to the first statement in this article. How dare I call us primitive.

After all, Indonesia was the first developing country to have its own domestic communications satellite. We now have an aircraft industry. We have a large community of scientists and scholars. And we can easily send students to Japan, Canada or France to be trained in nuclear power management.

But. A look at just a few of the accidents that happen every day in Indonesia gives a more objective view of how our people use technology and regard safety.

Technology is a double-edged sword that must be handled carefully. Indonesians, however, have a strong tendency to ignore safety -- especially the safety of others.

How often, for instance, do you see a family of five riding on a motorcycle in fast moving traffic? One child straddles the fuel tank, another is squeezed between her helmetless mother and father on the saddle, and the baby is carried by his mother who is barely on the saddle in the first place. One small pothole, and perhaps two of the children will end up in hospital.

Heart-stopping examples of Indonesians disregard for the safety of others also occur every day. How many loaded trucks get mired in the muck on the shoulder of roads because the city water pipe installers couldn't bother waiting for the excavation to harden before paving over it? These dramas will, for all I know, continue.

The intersection in a street in West Jakarta (see picture right) had been opened to the public for two weeks when the picture was taken. There is no warning whatsoever that a utility pole is smack in the middle of the poorly lit intersection. Just another example of an accident waiting to happen, but no one cares enough to do anything to prevent it.

Blame it on globalization, or modernization, or development, or whatever, but the truth is we are disaffected from the sense of satisfaction that others get when helping people avoid trouble.

Despite the beautiful motto gotong royong (mutual help) we inherited from our ancestors, we have basically been transformed into a selfish crowd. How can selfish humans be expected to have compassion for others, let alone think about their safety?

Then, a disaster strikes and a lot of people suffer or die, and the all too familiar Ping-Pong game starts. Rarely will Indonesians have enough courage to admit, "It is my fault, and I am fully responsible for it."

What usually happens is a shameless cover up. Where no cover up is possible, nature is blamed. By doing so, we indirectly blame God and not ourselves. We are not accustomed to taking full responsibility for our mistakes, or preventing them in the first place.

A nuclear power plant requires people with a high sense of responsibility. The design of the plant will be no problem, because it will be bought from a country with a long history of nuclear power use and safety. However, the moment construction begins is the moment our future becomes uncertain. All too often construction specifications for public facilities are compromised to yield personal benefits to the people in charge. Lower quality materials are substituted by people who think it won't make a difference.

No such compromise is allowable when building a nuclear power plant. If a stretch of elevated freeway collapses, perhaps 100 people will die. When a nuclear plant leaks, however, millions of lives will be affected -- for a long, long time.

Building a nuclear plant requires a different type of culture, a culture that never fails to include risk in every cost and benefit analysis. Indonesians, in general, are not used to thinking about risk, we simply ignore it.

Although there are some highly professional Indonesians, they are only a drop in the bucket. While we have begun to understand the idea of competition, most of us are unaccustomed to the idea of dedication to a job. Managing a nuclear power plant requires everyone, from top to bottom, to be devoted and dedicated to their jobs. Do we have enough people with this attitude?

The utter lack of discipline is another problem; a problem that even prompted a nationwide discipline program. If Japan, a country known for its discipline, can experience a leak, what will happen in a society like ours?

Should we rush ahead and operate a nuclear power plant in our primitive culture? Perhaps not now. Perhaps later, when we have developed a culture of safety.

For now, just watch out for that utility pole in the middle of the busy intersection.

The writer is a staff researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences.