Yudhoyono says it is a future possibility as demand for electricity far outstrips supply
Lynn Lee, Straits Times 19 Jun 10;
JAKARTA: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has put a temporary end to discussions as to whether Indonesia should build nuclear power plants, saying his administration has no plans to do so.
In March, a parliamentary commission had said it supported the development of nuclear energy.
Yesterday, Dr Yudhoyono said: 'One of these days, Indonesians may finally be able to welcome the use of nuclear energy and see it as a solution to our energy problem. In this case I'm sure the future government...will start the project carefully.
'But for now, the current government has no definitive plan for that.'
He was talking to journalists at his presidential palace in Cipanas, West Java.
Indonesia has been toying for years with the idea of building nuclear power plants, believing they would be a useful solution to its current over-dependence on non-renewable energy sources such as coal, oil and gas.
Coal and gas are its main sources of electricity generation, but the country desperately needs to increase its power production as the economy expands, as well as to bring power to outlying islands that are still relying on generator sets.
Power demand is estimated to be growing by 10 per cent a year, but 12 per cent of the people outside Java still do not have access to electricity.
Dr Yudhoyono noted that Indonesia was not limited by any state laws in terms of the type of energy sources it could develop. In fact, a 2007 national planning law stipulated that nuclear power operations should start between 2015 and 2019.
The President called on Indonesia's scientists to study nuclear energy more closely during his first term from 2004 to 2009.
In 2006, he even announced a plan to build a nuclear power plant in Jepara, Central Java, which would be completed by 2016 and cost around US$1.6 billion (S$2.2 billion). The plant would produce 1,000MW of much-needed electricity for the islands of Java, Madura and Bali.
But in 2007, thousands of people rallied against the planned nuclear power plant. Islamic clerics even declared a 'fatwa' against the proposal.
The President studiously avoided any mention of the plant when campaigning for his re-election last year in Central Java.
And yesterday, he mentioned the negative reaction to the plant.
'The problem is that starting a nuclear energy project would require a very thorough consideration,' he said.
'We need to be very careful. We are not sure whether people in Indonesia - as well as people of other countries - would welcome such a nuclear plant.'
Many observers have said that Indonesia is not ready for nuclear energy. To begin with, it has frequent earthquakes. This has raised fears that plants could be damaged, resulting in radioactive leaks.
While the National Nuclear Energy Agency has stressed that nuclear power is necessary and that the country has safely operated reactors in Yogyakarta and Bandung, analysts remain unconvinced.
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology expert Richard Tanter told the Sydney Morning Herald last year that a nuclear energy plan 'carries high-level risks for which Indonesia is not well prepared. There are very serious volcanic and seismic risks'.
But last month, energy planner Hanan Nugroho wrote in The Jakarta Post that nuclear power was 'the most available possible option' for the island of Java, which needs to produce more of the electricity it consumes.
On a separate topic yesterday, Dr Yudhoyono touched on the issue of controversial businessman and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie becoming the head of a party coalition secretariat.
The coalition includes Golkar and Dr Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and other smaller parties, and takes up over half of the seats in Parliament.
There have been worries that the position would give Mr Bakrie undue influence on the government.
'The secretariat is...not a forum to make decisions on policies,' said Dr Yudhoyono. 'That is still the government's domain.'
