Survey Shows Indonesian Acceptance of Nuclear Power on the Rise, Batan Says

Ismira Lutfia Jakarta Globe 5 Dec 10;

Jakarta. A recent poll claims that public acceptance of government plans to build a nuclear power plant has increased.

The poll, conducted by the National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan) in November, showed that 59.7 percent of 3,000 respondents in Java and Bali did not object to the establishment of a nuclear power plant.

Ibnu Hamad, a mass communications expert appointed to conduct the survey for the agency, said the figure showed a three percent increase from 56.7 percent public acceptance found in a similar poll conducted in May.

“The remaining percentage showed that 25.5 percent of respondents rejected, while 14.8 percent abstained” from voting on the issue, Ibnu said.

He added that the number of respondents who rejected the plan also increased from the previous poll’s result which showed that 24.6 percent of respondents were against the establishment of a nuclear power plant.

The figure, according to Ibnu, is the result of a more systematic public campaign conducted by Batan over the past three months to inform the public why the government plans to build a nuclear power plant, despite strong opposition from environmentalists and nongovernmental organizations.

However, Ibnu, who is a mass communications professor at the University of Indonesia, acknowledged that the poll findings could not represent the viewpoint of the Indonesian population in general, given that it was conducted only in 22 cities across Java and Bali.

“But if we consider that the highest electricity demand is concentrated in these two islands, I think the result is representative enough to be a reference for the government in its plan to build a nuclear plant,” he said.

Batan chief Hudi Hastowo said in October that the agency had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bangka-Belitung provincial government regarding plans to build two nuclear power plants worth Rp 54 trillion ($6 billion) on Bangka.

Herman Agustiawan, a member of the National Energy Council, also said the government planned to build a 10,000 megawatt plant in west Bangka and an 8,000 megawatt plant in south Bangka.

Batan spokesman Ferhat Aziz said the poll result could serve as “a boost” for the agency to lay out the organizational infrastructure for the plan.

However, he said a real stimulus would be a “go nuclear” public statement from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

“If the president says ‘go nuclear,’ all related government officials would surely clear the way for the plan to go ahead,” said Sutaryo Supadi, a nuclear scientist from the Energy and Environment Awareness Society.

Djarot Wisnubroto, a deputy for development of nuclear material cycle technology at Batan, said that Indonesia was already being left behind by its regional neighbors, such as Vietnam and Malaysia.