Earthquake-prone Indonesia is considering a nuclear power plan as 29 potential nuclear plant sites have been unveiled

Nuclear power plants will be built across earthquake-prone Indonesia under a proposal put forward by the country's energy board, a plan environmental experts say is “dangerous”.

While the Indonesian National Energy Board's proposal is still being drafted, the body has proposed 29 potential sites for nuclear power plants.

The sites extend from North Sumatra, southeast across the archipelago, to West Papua.

Agus Buji Prasetyono, one of the council members, told ABC Indonesia that nuclear power “cannot be avoided” because the government needs to secure reliable energy sources and reduce carbon emissions.

“Many G20 countries from Asia such as Pakistan, the UAE and Bangladesh have built nuclear plants,” Prasetyono said.

“How come we're the only ones?” [country] Who doesn't have one?”

Agus Boji Prasetyono says feasibility studies will be conducted on the proposed sites. (attached)

Indonesia has long considered nuclear energy, but in recent months the government has held talks with foreign governments and companies to acquire the technology and infrastructure needed for the plants, according to local media.

This comes as controversy escalates in Australia about the feasibility of nuclear energy after the coalition announced the costs of its plans.

Prasetyono said that although the price of the Indonesian nuclear proposal has not yet been determined, it will need support from foreign investors because the government cannot afford to build nuclear plants.

He added that the eight-member Energy Council – which is part of the Energy Ministry and is employed by the Indonesian government to formulate the country's energy plan – has met with several interested companies including from China and Russia.

'Dangerous' nuclear plants

The Indonesian Energy Board is studying twenty-nine nuclear power plant sites. (pixels: rob; license)

New details about the locations of factory sites have renewed safety concerns among environmental advocates, in part because Indonesia is prone to natural disasters.

The archipelago lies mostly along the Pacific Ring of Fire where tectonic plates frequently collide, causing earthquakes and other disasters.

Twenty years ago, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Aceh province in Indonesia and triggered the 2004 tsunami, which killed about 230,000 people across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and nine other countries.

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Hendrikus Adam, of environmental non-profit WALHI, said authorities needed to learn from previous nuclear power disasters, including those caused by earthquakes and tsunamis such as the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan.

“We believe that nuclear plants are dangerous, dangerous and harmful to humans and the environment,” Mr. Adam said.

“Developing a nuclear plant in itself is very expensive and also dangerous.”

Mr Prasetyono said feasibility studies would be conducted on the proposed sites to ensure that the risks of natural disasters were reduced to a minimum.

“The fault line must be more than 5 kilometers away [from the plant] To reduce the significant impact on construction.”

He added that if the proposals go ahead, the stations would use newer technology with better safety systems.

Nuclear nickel industry

Nickel is a major industry in Indonesia. (ABC News: Yusuf Priyambodu)

Nuclear power plants operate in 32 countries around the world, according to the World Nuclear Association.

At the G20 summit in November, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto pledged to retire all coal and fossil fuel power plants within the next 15 years in order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Prasetyono explained that this commitment means that nuclear energy is now inevitable for Indonesia, because huge Indonesian industries such as nickel depend on stable energy sources.

Indonesia is the world's largest nickel refiner, thanks to billions of dollars in mostly Chinese investment, and the industry uses coal-fired power plants.

“Solar power plants, wind power plants, or water power plants are all intermittent energy sources,” he said.

“Intermittent power is volatile and can't run fuses…it has to be nuclear.”

Inside one of the most radioactive places on Earth

Ten years after Japan's worst nuclear accident, North Asia correspondent Jake Stormer got a rare opportunity to see inside the destroyed nuclear power plant in Fukushima.

However, chief strategist from the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law Greta Anendarini questioned this assessment.

Ms Anindarini said there were still many “underutilized” renewable energy sources.

Last month, Deputy Minister of National Development Planning Vivi Yulaswati said Indonesia was in talks with the United States and Russia about acquiring technology to develop nuclear power plants.

Separately, Indonesian state-owned power utility PLN has reportedly signed agreements with companies in the United States and Japan to build small modular reactors, Coordinating Economy Minister Airlangga Hartarto said earlier this month.

“This is something that should be taken into consideration to strengthen support for our energy industry,” Hartarto said in a report published by local media kompas.com.

Details of the agreements are scarce and PLN declined to comment on this story.

Small modular reactors have a capacity of up to 300 megawatts per unit, about one-third of conventional nuclear plants.

Currently none are in commercial operation in any OECD country.

In Australia, the Western Australian town of Cooley has been in the spotlight as the federal opposition wants to convert the site of one of Cooley's coal-fired stations into a small modular reactor if elected.

The Western Australian government is in the middle of transitioning the city away from coal by 2030.

The Indonesian National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN) operates only three research nuclear reactors, in Bandung, Yogyakarta and Serpong.

With Reuters

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