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Wed, 04/08/2009 - 13:28
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News Focus: INDONESIA STILL SEES NUKE POWER PLANT AS LAST OPTION

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 7 (ANTRA) - The Indonesian plan to develop a nuclear power plant in the Muria Peninsula, Jepara regency, Central Java, to increase power supply in the country, seems to remain a plan only, though the government has carried out feasibility studies for over three decades.

Strong opposition from the local people, non-governmental organizations and environmentalists have caused the government to delay the project and put it as a last resort in increasing power supply.

After all, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his campaign in Central Java on Sunday expressed his personal disagreement to the nuclear power plant development in Muria peninsula.

The president's statement prompted various quarters to a positive response. "The head of state's remarks showed the government's wisdom with regard to discourse among the public over the nuclear issue," Winarno Thohir, Reliable Fishermen Association chairman (KTNA) said here on Tuesday.

Over the past few years, oppositions to the plan have been expressed by local people, organizations and environmentalists. The government is advised to develop instead alternative environment friendly sources such as water, solar energy and sea current.

Recently, tens of non-governmental and mass organizations from Jepara, Kudus and Pati districts grouped in the Muria Nature Conservation Network (Jala Muria), called on the government to stop its nuke plan and replace it with a renewable energy project.

"The government should give priority to the development of renewable energy as Indonesia is rich in such a resource," chairman of Jala Muria, Lilo Sunaryo said recently.

He said that the people of Jepara and other districts in the vicinity rejected the government plan to build a nuclear power plant in Muria peninsula because the risk it would create was far bigger then the benefit it would give to the people.

According to Winarno Thohir, KTNA has since in the past voiced its disagreement to the nuclear project because the peninsula is a fertile area for agriculture.

Jala Muria chairman, Sunaryo said on Tuesday that his network had been opposed to the nuclear plan since three years ago. "From the technological aspect, a nuclear power plant still has weaknesses even though now it has used a new generation technology which is claimed to be very safe," Sunaryo said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) data show that nuclear waste radiation would last for 24 thousand years. Therefore, Sunaryo, a nuclear turbine expert who graduated from a University in Russia, said that nuclear wastes needed a special handling for about 24 thousand years to prevent them from creating environment problems.

The peril of a nuclear incident is the main reason behind the people's opposition. The explosion of Chernobyl's nuclear reactor in Russia in 1986 and the leakage at Mihama's nuclear reactor in Japan in 2004 are still fresh in their minds. In Chernobyl, ten years after the leakage, thousands of people died of exposure to discharged radioactive material.

Indonesia's experience --through its National Atomic Energy Agency (BATAN) which has three nuclear reactors in Yoyakarta, Bandung and Serpong-- to operate nuclear reactors has not erased people's doubts.

Before starting to build a nuclear power reactor, BATAN has carried out 30 years of feasibility studies with consultants from the IAEA in 1976, from Italy in 1984, from BECHTEL (US) in 1984 and from the United State and Japan in 1994.

Sunaryo said the three reactors were of small scale with temperatures ranging between 100 and 150 degrees Celsius. They were normal types of reactors designed purely for research.

A nuclear power reactor needs 2.5 million litters of water per minute to be used as a coolant for the temperature in the plant which could reach between 400 Celsius degrees to 600 Celsius degrees.

If it leaks, the water that gushes out can be as hot as 3,000 degrees Celsius which is able to melt iron. This is apart from the radioactive material it would discharge to the environment.

In response to the people's opposition, Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said sometime ago the government's plan to set up a nuclear power plant was not yet final. It appreciated the people's objections to its plan.

He said his office was keeping a close watch on what was being done to implement the plan, including the tackling of the project's environmental aspects which normally had to be done by an analysis and assessment of the project's possible impact on the local environment.

Last Sunday's statement by President Yudhoyono was therefore welcomed by the people of Jepara and environmental activists. The 'Jurnal Nasional' daily in its edition on Monday quoted the president as saying that nuclear energy would become the last option in the development of power plant in the country.

Yudhoyono made the statement when he answered a question raised by Ermawati, a woman from Jepara. Ermawati who was concerned over the government plan to develop a nuclear power plant in Muria peninsula raised the question during a question and answer session when the president in his capacity as chairman of the Democrat Party's board of patrons held a legislative election campaign in Magelang, Central Java, on Sunday.

"Any country can build a nuclear power plant but Indonesia will prioritize the development of electricity from non-nuclear sources," Yudhoyono said.

Therefore, in his capacity as the chairman of the board of patrons of the Democrats Party, he expressed his disagreement to the development of a nuclear power plant in Muria peninsula.

"We have not made any decision to build a nuclear power plant project in the Muria area and I do not agree if a nuclear plant is all of a sudden built there" he said.



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