Indonesia Not Ready for Nuclear Plant: Minister

Indonesia Not Ready for Nuclear Plant: Minister

www.thejakartapost.com

Indonesia is not ready to build nuclear power plants due to human resources issues and public opposition, Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said.

Gusti’s statement comes as the National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan) insists on going ahead with its nuclear plant program despite mounting opposition.

Minister Gusti argued that nuclear power plants should be the last resort since the country still had several energy options.

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Like Japan, Indonesia is located on the "Ring of Fire" - and is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Even so, the nation's energy plan mandates building nuclear power plants.

Following the Japan tragedy and nuclear debacle, Environment Minister Gusti is standing up to the head of Indonesia's National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan), Hudi Hastowi.

Hustowi insists the nation will proceed with plans to build nuclear reactors, based on law. Gusti says no, it's stupid and the people don't want it.

Batan head Hudi Hastowi has insisted that the office would go ahead with the plan since it had been mandated by law.

He said his office would implement Law No. 17/2007 on the long-term development plan stipulating, among other things, energy issues and the 2006 presidential regulation on the national energy policy.

The presidential regulation stipulates that 2 percent of the country’s total demand for energy should be met by nuclear power plants from 2025.

“We have already missed the first deadline to start operating nuclear plants in 2017. We don’t want another setback,” Hudi told the Post.

“I suspect key officials at Batan have personal interests to make them to go ahead with the plant despite the lesson from Japan,” says Chalid Muhammad, executive director of the Indonesia Green Institute.

“We could not imagine if a nuclear incident such as in Japan, a country with very good technology and preparedness in facing disaster, were to happen in Indonesia,” he said.

...Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) member Andrie Wijaya warned that corruption in the government could put the development of a nuclear power plant at risk.

He said the government was not ready in terms of good governance.

So the oil and mining industries are all over this one, ready to ctake back lost turf. Environmentalists are at loggerheads with energy poobahs. ...and the obvious is obfuscated:

It's stupid to build nuclear power plants in regions prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. ...It's all about the money. Forget common sense and just go for the cash.



www.thejakartapost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Right now, the nuclear industry is fighting desperately to hang on to its clients and profits. Indonesia is now at the forefront of the debate. So in the eyes of the nuclear power industry, this thread is not just about the future of nuclear power in Indonesia, and the nations potential as a possible client - it's about the future of the nuclear power industry on the planet.

Whatever role nuclear power may play in the global economy - building reactors on fault lines and zones prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions is just downright stupid.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. ...The Japan experience makes it clear that no amount of "human ingenuity" or foresight can deal with ALL the possible FUBARS.

Indonesia is home to some of the most powerful volcanoes and fault lines in the world, so damn right they better rethink their plans for a nuclear plant! I think this guy gets it, not only would they be as vulnerable as Japan, they would be hard pressed to respond to a disaster as well as Japan has.

The US will hopefully rethink it's nuclear reactors usage as well;

Within hours of the blast at the Japanese nuclear plant, Rep. Edward J. Markey, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, called on the Obama administration to impose a moratorium on building new reactors in seismically active areas and to require those already in earthquake-prone zones to be retrofitted with stronger containment systems. He also called for a thorough investigation of whether design flaws contributed to the Japanese accident. Twenty three reactors in the U.S. use the same design parameters as Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant. - source

With the amount of earthquakes and tsunamis they get? Yeah probably a good call.

reply to post by soficrow


Common sense prevails in Indonesia.
Good news.
But they will sure have to work hard to fight off those international nuclear/energy lobby folks.
These companies won't stop,rather I would expect them to wait until Indonesia's power shortage gets so critical(excuse the pun in these times),then jump in with super cheap reactors...

Indonesia should go with Hydro power IMO,they have lots of tidal and river resources.

reply to post by Silcone Synapse

Common sense prevails in Indonesia.

Unfortunately, no. Laws were written a few years ago to force the nation to switch over to nuclear energy. Now, the Environment Minister and Energy Poobah are going at it - the minister saying it's not good and people don't want it, and the poobah saying it's the law so it's happening.

...Seems to me that if we can intervene in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya - we can twist a few arms in Indonesia to benefit the whole world (not just a few poobahs and banksters).

I think they should build it right on the island in the middle of the Lake Toba supervolcano caldera. I mean if it's disaster they want, disaster they will get...one day. Might work great otherwise for a few thousand years until the volcano erupts or until they get a massive quake that causes a mega landslide and 1720 ft tsunami like what happened at Lituya Bay.

www.drgeorgepc.com...

There are some places just not cut out for nuclear power plants. Way too risky. Considering that last unprecedented 9.1 in Japan is causing some experts to reevaluate fault lengths and possible magnitudes, there is no telling just how big a quake (and resulting tsunami) could get along that huge subduction zone. As if 2004 wasn't enough?

This is NOT settled. Indonesia is still planning to build nuclear reactors.

Environment Minister Gusti may lose - National Atomic Energy Agency head Hudi Hastowi might win.

If we can pick sides and turn other nations' internal conflicts into all out wars - why can't we stop countries from building nuclear reactors on earthquake- and volcano- prone fault lines?!?

To protect the WHOLE world? ..Not just Coke and Exxon?