Batan Asked To Study Building Nuclear Power Plant In Ntb

Lombok Barat (Antara NTB) - Chairman of Commission VII of the House of Representatives Dr Kurtubi has asked the National Nuclear Energy Board (Batan) to carry out a complete feasibility study on the possibility of building a nuclear power plant in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

"I ask for a complete study in the 2018 fiscal year that we have a conclusion of the location and the size (of the nuclear plant)," Kurtubi, who is known as a leading oil and gas observer, said when on a visit to the Senggigi tourist resort in the regency of Lombok Barat, on Friday.

He said he proposed NTB as the location for the country`s nuclear power plant as plans to build the country`s first nuclear power generating facility in a number of other regions have failed to come to reality.

"Feasibility study had been completed in the Muria peninsula but failed in a realization. So did plan in Bangka Belitung," he said.

Plan to build a nuclear power plant on the Muriua hill foot and in Bangka Belitung met with strong resistance from local people.

The government has also said nuclear power is the last alternative for the country in power generating program . The priority is given for renewable sources of energy such as geothermal, hydro energy , which are available in abundance in the country.

Indonesia holds the world`s largest geothermal reserves.

Kurtubi said Indonesia`s electric energy requirement is growing fast from year to year.

NTB alone will need 1,500 megawatts in the next five to ten years with the plan to build smelter to process minerals in the regency of Sumbawa Barat.

In addition, the regency of Lombok Utara will be the location of the Global Hub Bandar Kayangan, which will need power supply of up to 1,000 megawattss, Kurtubi said.

"Therefore, it would not work by relying on micro hydro power plants or solar and wind power plants. We continue to encourage development of renewable energy , but it would not be enough to meet the fast growing requirement," he added.

He said NTB is made up of many small islands, and some of them are uninhabited that would safely be made as a location of a nuclear power plant far away from human settlement.

"Whether it is technically feasible or not it would be for Batan to decide after the survey," he said.

Russia`s state-owned nuclear company Rosatom has offered to build a nuclear power plant in Indonesia.

"They proposed a turnkey project for nuclear power plant," Coordinating Minister of Marine Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said after a meeting with representatives of the Russian company.

The minister said nuclear plants are more suitable to be built in areas not prone to earthquakes, such as Bangka and East Kalimantan.

But Luhut said the government will review the proposal first.

Earlier the government said Indonesia will not resort to nuclear energy to meet its electric energy requirement.

"We have arrived at the conclusion that this is not the time to build up nuclear power capacity. We still have many alternatives and we do not need to raise any controversies," former Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said has said.

The plan from 2006 still left room for nuclear energy, but the latest guidelines say Indonesia should increase the use of renewable energy sources to 23 percent of its total primary energy -- from the current target of 5 percent -- by 2025.

Energy from coal is slashed to 30 percent from 33 percent previously, but Indonesia will rely more on oil, which is set to account for 25 percent of energy in the next decade, from the previous target of 20 percent.

Natural gas will contribute the remaining 22 percent to reach the 2025 target, Sudirman said, without providing details on the energy mix target for 2050. (*)