Indonesia’s future welfare and nuclear risks

Explosions and fire at Fukushima nuclear reactor that followed the devastating 9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan have triggered global fears of radiation, which may lead to a new disaster.

Japanese officials said high radiation levels had been detected and threatened other cities, including Tokyo.

Thousands of people were evacuated and many others were asked to stay at home to avoid nuclear contamination while efforts to cool down the overheated reactors were under way.

Efforts to decontaminate the area are also preparing for the worst-case scenario despite the official statement from an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) official who mentioned that the situation developing into a Chernobyl-scale disaster was very unlikely.

This devastating disaster really opens our eyes to the future of nuclear power as one of the renewable energy resources sought after by countries in the world, especially the developing nations in Asia.

Nuclear power is currently used by around 30 countries and provides almost 14 percent of global electricity supply, while Asia nuclear contributes 4.6 percent of electricity supply (IEA, 2008).

Beside China, Japan and South Korea are the biggest nuclear-based electricity producers. Indonesia is likely to follow in their footsteps as electricity needs increase from time to time.

It is stipulated in Indonesia’s long-term development plan, where one of the focuses is to increase the national electricity ratio from 54 percent in 2005 to 76 percent in 2015 and 93 percent in 2025.

The first phase started in 2006 through a 10,000 megawatt power generation crash program, which is planned to fulfill the electricity needs avoiding the frequent energy shortage.

However, the program still relies on coal-based power plants. It is a fundamental aim that this country boosts electricity power while reducing its dependence on traditional fossil fuels.

According to the National Nuclear Power Agency (BATAN) estimate in 2010, Indonesia has at least 53,000 tons of uranium reserves, which are located in West Kalimantan (29,000), Bangka Belitung (24,000), and some other unrevealed potentials in Papua.

With 2 tons of uranium predicted to produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity, the country’s uranium reserves may supply our energy needs for the next 100 years.

Indonesia’s energy need is quite high. Beside contributing to economic growth, energy will help improve people’s welfare.

With respect to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), energy is one of the most important issues to fight poverty and boost human development.

Access to electricity has hampered education and health services in rural areas.

On the contrary, this access will lead to the improvement of national productivity and strengthen our Human Development Index, which is currently still low (108 out of 177 countries).

Regarding its capacity and efficiency, nuclear power-based electricity seems to be the best for generating electricity for Indonesia in the future.

It has the capacity to generate a large-scale of electricity with only a small amount of uranium creating a certain pattern of energy efficiency, even more than oil usage.

In addition, the less emissions created from the process is in line with the goal of reducing the carbon emissions by 26 percent in 2020 and the danger of global warming.

It can reduce our dependence on fossil fuel while continuing to generate energy for the huge population and wide area.

Moreover, nuclear is useful in creating high-quality seeds and improving medical diagnosis.

Nonetheless, there is still some strong opposition concerning the establishment of nuclear reactors in Indonesia, mainly from the local communities and the environmental NGOs.

First is on Indonesia’s geographical condition, where 83 percent is susceptible to tectonic and volcanic earthquakes. What we can see and learn from Japan’s Fukushima reactor is that this condition might be not suitable to build nuclear reactors.

Second is concerning waste management, which is important to avoid the spread of this radioactive waste. People are concerned with this matter as it may severely impact on human’s health if it is not properly managed.

On the other hand, the government seems confident about building a reactor regardless of what has happened to Japan with the reason of energy diversification (The Jakarta Post, March 15, 2011).

The need to build a reactor maybe inevitable in the future. Nevertheless, the disaster in Japan made us hesitate, whether we can handle such a disaster or not.

With enormous richness of natural resources, nuclear power is in fact not the only resource that might help Indonesia in covering its energy needs, although we cannot also say that the other energy sources do not pose risks.

Yet if the government insists on building a reactor to increase the energy diversification in Indonesia, the first thing it should do is to be ready to face every single risk that comes with having this kind of reactor.

We can see from Japan that even the highest safety standards do not prevent disaster. Comprehensive preparation is imperative to avoid insecurity. The lack of the regeneration of human resources should stop happening, the facility and equipment upgraded, and also the recruitment of nuclear experts has to commence.

Nuclear reactors should be safe from earthquakes and other disasters. However, there is still no guarantee failures can be prevented. The people’s welfare will be definitely put on the front line, but are we ready to deal with all of the risks?

The writer graduated from the Department of International Relations, the University of Indonesia.