Monday, March 14, 2011

Nuclear Reactors in Indonesia

Today I received some text messages from friends warning about the spread of radioactive materials from the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan damaged by the recent earthquake and tsunami, that may be blown by the wind to other countries like the Philippines and Indonesia.

I was not fooled by this messages because I have been following the news about this matter since yesterday, therefore I understand that the main part of the Fukushima nuclear reactor is still safe.

But I can understand why people are very worried, because they still remember about the blast of the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl, Russia  in 1986, in which tens of thousands of people were by radioactive materials leaked from the reactor.

Fear of such nuclear tragedy has cause pro and contra on the government's plan to build large nuclear power reactors in this country.

Actually, nuclear reactor is not something new for Indonesia, as a matter of fact according to Wikipedia Indonesia has built and operated Nuclear Research Reactors for many decades.

Today, the National Atomic Energy Agency (BATAN) operates three nuclear research reactors at the following locations :
1)  Serpong, Banten       :  30 MW Multi-Purpose Reactor (1987)
2)  Bandung, West Java :  Triga Mark II (250 Kw in 1965, 2 MW in 1997)
3)  Yogyakarta              :  Triga Mark II (100 Kw in 1979)

Indonesia is viable to build a nuclear reactor in every provinces due to there are ample stocks of materials and appropriate geological support. Various locations have been proposed for building nuclear reactors that will actually be taken into production for the purpose of generating electricity:

1) Muria, Central Java
2) Gorontalo, in the North of Sulawesi
3) Bangka Belitung province
4) Kalimantan.

As a legal basis for the development of nuclear power reactors, Indonesia has promulgated the Nuclear Power Law in 1997, which stipulated that Indonesia shall have a lot much bigger nuclear power reactor in 2019 that will provide much more electric power (at least 200 MW) for the country.

Considering that Indonesia will need lots of electric power for development of the country, and the source of electricity, i.e. coal, gas, petroleum, geothermal, is limited, I think we should keep an open mind on the possibility of building a nuclear power reactors that can provide much bigger electricity.

But in this case we must make sure that reactor would be located in a place that would not be affected by earthquake and/or other natural disasters, operated and maintained by people who are highly skilled and disciplined.

15 comments:

Pijan Vijan said...

gak Ngerti T,T

Unknown said...

ZuXuZ,
Saya hanya ceritra tentang reaktor nuklir yang dimiliki Indonesia, berkaitan dengan kekhawatiran orang tentang kemungkinan radiokatif PLTN di Jepang yang rusak karena gempa dan tsunami.

Ria Tumimomor said...

i also received that kind of message. But sometimes we do wonder is this real or just another hoax to make people panic over nothing?

tips wisata murah said...

Ide yang menarik sob.. tapi sayang masyarakatnya kurang siap.. sontoh pembngunan PLTN Muria dijaman soeharta dulu gagal karena kurangnya sosialisasi pada penduduk setempat

attayaya_nama said...

NO NUKE in INDONOSIA
.........

Unknown said...

I think Nuclear power is the safest form of power generation which like flying is the safest form of travel, but when it goes really wrong it will go really wrong. I also think that we can't dismiss nuclear power because of what has happened happened in Japan. We learnt from Chernobyl and I believe it is still the way to go. Harry you are right to comment the reactors need to be built in a more stable region geologically and also maintained and run by professional and highly skilled people.

r10 said...

negara maju tidak membuat reaktor nuklir baru, ini indonesia malah mau buat, padahal indonesia rawan gempa

kemudian bila reaktor nuklir dibangun di Bangka Belitung, apakah Singapura dan Malaysia rela negaranya rawan terkena dampak nuklir saat terjadi kebocoran (entah krn gempa atau hal lain)

Unknown said...

@Ria/The Dream Catcher,
At first, I also have the same question.

@Tips Wisata Murah,
Membangun dan memelihara PLTN ukuran 300 MW keatas memang jauh lebih sulit dari kapasitas reaktor yang kita miliki saat ini max. 30 MW.
Perlu displin sangat tinggi, taat hukum, kemampuan tinggi.

@Attayaya_nama,
We are free to express ourself.

@Luke,
If those conditions are not fulfilled it would be very dangerous to have nuclear reactor.

@R10,
Mengingat sumber alam kita sedang dikuras habis2an untuk export tidak ada jeleknya kita cari sumber energi alternatif. Khusus pltn perlu studi lanjutanb yang menyeluruh.

Unknown said...

Its a wake-up call for any country contemplating building nuclear plants. They need to be isolated and emergency supplies of water are also needed in case of emergency.



peter

Setyo-Utomo Said said...

Mas Harry, I agree with you that the reactors need to be built in a more stable region geologically and also maintained and run by professional and highly skilled people.

attayaya_save said...

nah lho Jepang aja kebingungan ma bocornya nuklir, apalgi jika hal itu terjadi di Indonesia

TUKANG CoLoNG said...

ngeri.. udah kayak pilm2 aja.. :-S

Unknown said...

@Peter/Kiwi,
Yes the incident in Japan is really a wake up call for other countries who already have nuclear reactors or planning to have one.

@Utomo,
You are a nuclear expert Pak, so you really know the conditions.

@Attayata-Save,
Mudah2an Batan dan pemerintah dapat terus memelihara dengan baik ketiga reaktor nuklir riset yang sudah dimiliki.
Kalau kita tidak mau membangun PLTN yang jauh lebih besar maka kita harus hentikan expor batu bara dan gas dan memakainya hanya untuk pembangkit tenaga listrik dalam negeri.

@TUKANG CoLoNG,
Memang dampak kecelakaan reaktor nuklir sangat mengerikan.

mannoy @webnatin said...

safety is part of development and technology, but nature has its own of recreating itself taking away what technology created.

Unknown said...

Hi Mannoy,
I agree with your comment.