Nuclear plant received coldly

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Salatiga

The government's plan to build a nuclear power plant was put under the microscope again as experts said the plan was criminal, would put thousands at risk and did not make any sense.

Philosophy lecturer Franz Magnis-Suseno SJ said the plan was criminal because it could cause a disaster of huge proportions.

"Why does such a risky power plant have to be built in Indonesia?" Franz said during a seminar focused on analyzing critically nuclear power plant construction in Indonesia.

"If it's being built on the north of Mount Muria in Jepara (Central Java), how will residents suffer when there's a nuclear disaster like Chernobyl?

"If this kind of disaster takes place in Muria, the nuclear radiation might reach Semarang.

"So I doubt residents can be persuaded by the government to take the risks," he said from the Salatiga-based seminar in Central Java.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last year announced plans to start building a nuclear power plant in 2010 to become operational by 2016.

The power plant would be the first of its kind to provide energy to the Indonesian public and industrial sectors.

It is expected to meet four percent of the total power demand in Java, Madura and Bali -- an energy demand expected to reach 175 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2015.

Nuclear energy was essential for the country's development given Indonesia would need an additional 1,500 to 2,000 megawatts (MW) annually after 2016, the government said.

However, Franz said he feared widespread corruption practices for most projects, including the government's.

He said lowering the quality of building materials was just one way the project would suffer corruption.

Franz asked the seminar to consider the busway road construction project as an example and said many roads in this project were already damaged because of corruption and poor building materials, just six months after operations had commenced.

"So nuclear power plant construction should not start until Indonesia successfully fights corruption," Franz said.

Coordinator of Working Group on Power Sector Restructuring Fabby Tumiwa said during his seminar presentation the government had conducted no social study on the plan and had not sought approval from the public.

"The big risk of a nuclear power plant is that it will get a lot of attention," he said.

Fabby referred to a document from the International Atomic Energy Agency and reminded the audience that, "nuclear energy poses special risks to the health safety of persons and to the environment: risks that must be carefully managed".