Regulation Soon on Nuclear Power in Indonesia

[Jakarta Expat]

Regulation Soon on Nuclear Power

The government will soon issue a regulation on the licensing of nuclear reactors, paving the way for the construction of a nuclear power plant by 2010, an official said.

"The State Secretariat has verbally informed us of the regulation and will soon issue it," head of the Nuclear Energy Control Board (Bapeten) Sukarman Aminjoyo said on Friday (5/1/07).

The regulation will give the green light for the construction of a nuclear power plant at Mount Muria in Central Java in 2010, he said.

The power plant, with an initial capacity of 1,000 MW, is expected to start operating in 2017.

Anyone knows the mentality of the Indonesians knows that this is a disaster waiting to happen.

[Von Vorschlag]

Indonesia is pressing ahead with plans to construct a nuclear power plant on the densely-populated slopes of Mount Muria – a dormant volcano in Jepara regency on the northern coast of Central Java – despite concerns over the enforcement of safety standards and the area’s susceptibility to earthquakes.
The government says the move is necessary to meet growing demand for energy, even though Indonesia is one of the world’s top producers of natural gas and a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"We are continuing to make preparations, including the formulation of the project’s specifications and the body that will manage it, namely the Nuclear Power Management Agency," Energy and Mineral Resources Minister PurnomoYusgiantoro was quoted as saying Wednesday (28/6/06) by state news agency Antara.

He was speaking after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, State Enterprises Minister Sugiharto and the acting president director of state-owned electricity company PLN.

Purnomo said no domestic investors had yet expressed readiness to put their money in the project. "We are still making preparations. Later we will invite companies to bid, probably next year," he said.

The minister said the project would likely commence in 2010 and be completed by 2015 or 2016. "If it is to be built from 2010, preparations will be from 2007 to 2008. So there will be no delay," he said.

He said the plant would likely have a capacity of 4,000 megawatts, which would be developed in several stages.

Commenting on the technology that would be used, he said the country’s experts are still studying various systems, such as the pressurized water reactor system, which is used in reactors in France, the US, South Korea and Japan.

Environmentalists and non-government organizations have warned that building a nuclear power plant on Java would be folly because of Indonesia’s endemic corruption, poor enforcement of safety standards and susceptibility to earthquakes.

Critics say the government should instead concentrate on reducing corruption within PLN and state oil and gas firm Pertamina. They warn that in the event of a nuclear meltdown triggered by an earthquake or human error, the fallout could soon spread to nearby islands and neighboring countries.

Only Five Years?
Research and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman on Tuesday said Indonesia could be using nuclear power by 2011 if the project commences this year. "If we start building it this year, the soonest we can have a nuclear power plant is in five years time," he said after accompanying visiting Iranian Research and Technology Minister Muhammad Mehdi Zahedi at a meeting with Kalla.


Kadiman said Kalla had ordered a crash program to develop new electricity supplies to meet the country's growing demand for power, so nuclear energy was seen as one of the main solutions. "If the vice president said it is a crash program, why not? This means acceleration," he said.

He said PLN had signed a memorandum of understanding with a South Korean company on the building of a nuclear power plant in Indonesia. The company is Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company, a subsidiary of state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation.

Kadiman said plans for a nuclear power plant at Mount Muria were proposed a long time ago but never became a reality due to political issues and the abundance of gas and coal reserves. "However, nuclear energy has been included in the current national policy," he said.

He played down the possibility that Indonesia would seek assistance from Iran to develop the nuclear power plant, saying that other countries, such as South Korea and Japan, have the technology, experience and funding. "What we want is for the foreign country to come to Indonesia with the nuclear technology and necessary funds, and we will provide the site.”

Although Purnomo claimed no Indonesian company had expressed readiness to invest in the project, Kadiman said a national private company was prepared to build the nuclear power plant if the government first guarantees to purchase its electricity. He refused to name the company.

In May 2005, Kadiman had said Indonesia would develop nuclear power by 2017 for peaceful purposes, including power stations. He said the site would be in Madura (an island off East Java) or Muria, “but if these proposals are turned down it will be no problem to move to earthquake-free Kalimantan".

But don't forget to factor in the the Submarine Force of
The Royal Australian Navy

[Jakarta Expat]

These guys are crazy, I assume you know Vonny they call the area the "Ring of Fire" as we only have 3 major fault lines running through Java alone. With that and the mentality this is an accident waiting to happen.

[Von Vorschlag]

Yes I lived 27 meters away from a major fault line in New Zealand , you could stand there and look it , freaky. But all it will take is another deep sea bed test by Oz to raise a few waves and wash the problem away ( oh did I say that out lould ) .

[BNZ]

Originally Posted by Jakarta Expat

Regulation Soon on Nuclear Power
Anyone knows the mentality of the Indonesians knows that this is a disaster waiting to happen.

Yeah they can't even give anyone the time of day, truthfully.

[Jakarta Expat]

Originally Posted by BNZ

Yeah they can't even give anyone the time of day, truthfully.

Yeah I know, living here 17 years and it has not changed too much. And they wonder why the expat or the Chinese work circles around them and can afford the things they have.

[Jakarta Expat]

This tragedy is still going on and these boneheads think they can go Nuclear

Plane riddle casts doubt on Indonesia air industry

REFRI Widodo sounded worried. The plane was being hit by crosswinds, the pilot of Adam Air flight KI 574 radioed to air traffic control while flying at 33,000 feet over a remote part of the Indonesian archipelago 11 days ago.
Ten minutes later, as winds up to 137 km/h buffeted the plane carrying 96 passengers and six crew, Mr Widodo again contacted the air traffic controller at Makassar, asking about the plane's position.
Moments later the screen went blank, prompting one of the aviation industry's biggest mysteries: how can a 40-metre Boeing 737-400 vanish in an age of sophisticated satellite monitoring and radar tracking?
No debris has been found despite, a wide search of the area where the 18-year-old plane is presumed to have crashed into the sea or the jungle of western Sulawesi.
A report on Monday by an Indonesian Navy ship that it had detected three metal objects on the ocean floor was yesterday being treated sceptically by Government officials.
Within hours of the plane's disappearance on New Year's Day, search officials wrongly announced that wreckage and 12 survivors had been found, even quoting witnesses saying there were bodies everywhere. The plane's disappearance has raised questions about Indonesia's booming airline industry where 19 new carriers have taken to the skies since deregulation in 1999.
The last co-ordinates of the Adam Air plane were recorded by Singaporean authorities, raising questions about Indonesia's ability to monitor its own air space.
Tempo magazine reported that Indonesian equipment that should have picked up signals recording the crash had been inoperative for a year and repair requests had gone unanswered.
Government officials this week summoned airline owners to Jakarta to discuss safety. They were told that enforcement agencies could not be everywhere and they needed to take more responsibility for safety standards. If they didn't, airline operators and owners would face sanctions, possibly jail terms.
More than 250 people have been killed in air crashes in Indonesia since 2004. Last year alone there were 15 mishaps, many involving planes overshooting runways.
Adam Air, a low-cost carrier co-founded by the speaker of Indonesia's Parliament, Agung Laksono, has been the focus of growing scrutiny.
Seventeen Adam Air pilots resigned in May 2005, citing unsafe working conditions.
US and Singaporean planes and a US ship have joined the search, which Jakarta promises not to abandon until the site of the crash is found.