The government has received yet another nuclear-development offer from Russia’s national nuclear corporation Rosatom Corp., even though the former has stated that such a development is the last thing on its mind.
Rosatom recently paid a visit to Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan and Energy and Mineral Resources deputy minister Arcandra Tahar, offering to develop turnkey nuclear power plants in regions without the threat of earthquakes, such as in Bangka Belitung Islands and East Kalimantan provinces.
It was not the first time that Rosatom has offered its expertise to Indonesia. In 2015, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan) to exchange knowledge on nuclear technologies and management.
Rosatom’s meeting with Luhut and Arcandra occurred after state-owned electricity firm PLN’s latest electricity procurement business plan (RUPTL) revealed that PLN has not completely eliminated nuclear power as a viable power source option.
While the RUPTL maintains that nuclear energy remains a last resort for electricity procurement, it notes that PLN still has to consider the nuclear option if it fails to meet the desired energy target from renewable sources, such as hydro, wind, geothermal, solar and biomass.
PLN states that at least 23 percent of Indonesia’s power plants must already be fueled by renewable energy by 2025, up from the current figure of 13 percent. Despite Rosatom’s seemingly interesting offer, the government is steadfast in its stance on nuclear power as a last resort.
“We have said that we are not ready yet. We need to raise public awareness, which takes time,” Luhut said after the long-hour meeting.
Arcandra said the government needed to review whether or not nuclear power was urgently needed to meet rising domestic demand for electricity At present, the highest electricity demands come from Java and Bali, but Rosatom did not include the two regions as viable locations for its nuclear power development.
“We need to find out what the perception of nuclear power is like in Java. [Rosatom] mentioned suitable locations, such as Bangka, East Kalimantan and Batam [in Riau Islands], but what is the demand like there?” Arcandra said.
PLN data show that electricity consumption in the Java-Bali region is expected to skyrocket to 326.6 terrawatt hours [TWh] by 2026 from 174 TW'h, while consumption in Kalimantan is only expected to reach 23.4 TWh. In the electricity plan, PLN makes a specific note on the possible use of small modular nuclear reactors, which can produce up to 300 megawatts of electricity (MWe), on certain islands.
However, it acknowledges that it needs to conduct further studies as such modular reactors are not yet commercially available. At the same time, capital, radioactive waste management and the liability costs of nuclear power plants raise concerns as well, as they differ from study to study. Safety issues surrounding nuclear power development have also dominated the majority of discussions, given Indonesia’s location along the volatile Pacific Ring of Fire.
Rosatom communications manager for Southeast Asia Arkady Karneev told The Jakarta Post that the firm had been actively interacting with several Indonesian stakeholders on the possibility of developing a large scale nuclear power plant project in the country following an intergovernmental agreement on nuclear energy in 2006 between Indonesia and Russia.
Jakarta Post, Page-14, Wednesday, May, Monday 15, 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment