TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Deputy of information technology, energy, and materials in the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) Eniya Listiani Dewi stated that Indonesia’s nuclear energy implementation for nuclear power plants (PLTN) must commence as soon as possible.
Eniya maintained that nuclear technology needs to be implemented soon since the benefits of such technology can only be felt in the long-run.
The following are three facts of nuclear technology in Indonesia:
1. Late to the game
Eniya maintained that nuclear energy is a potential that needs to be developed to push for the country’s 23 percent use of renewable energy sources (EBT) which has been postponed since 2009.
“The fact is that if we started it at this moment it will only be felt 30 years later. The road is still far ahead, we actually need to introduce nuclear technology as soon as possible,” said Eniya. She also said that an accelerated use of nuclear technology, especially the fourth generation that produces hydrogen as its by product, would be a solution to problems related to renewable energy for transportation uses.
2. Take lessons from China
China has improved 54 units of nuclear power plants with 25 currently being worked on. Eniya argues that based on her study in Japan, China is the only country that dares to implement it while Japan opted to wait for the fourth generation nuclear to be proven first.
“Looking at China, the small scale nuclear technology producing 100 megawatts can be adopted on the university level. This is evidence that we can actually utilize such technology,” said Eniya.
3. Minimize the risks
BPPT Chief UNggul Priyanto explained that any technology will certainly pose certain risks, which is indifferent to nuclear technology. The most important element according to him is to be able to minimize the risks involved.
“For nuclear power plants, we must search places that has minimum risks and rarely experiences earthquakes and tsunamis,” said Unggul. Despite the availability of other alternative energy sources such as geothermal, solar power, and hydro power, Unggul personally thinks that the aforementioned are miniscule compared to nuclear.
MOH KHORY ALFARIZI
