T

he government’s plan to establish Indonesia’s first nuclear power plant might falter as environmentalists have raised concerns about two sites proposed for the project.

The National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN) has proposed Bangka Belitung province and Jepara regency in Central Java as potential places for the plant, saying that both have a lower risk of earthquakes than other regions.

The Bangka Belitung branch of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has challenged the safety claims, arguing that the province has volcanic rivers underneath connected to the volcanic island of Krakatau in the Sunda Strait, which is still active.

“We have five hot springs here in Bangka that come from volcanic activities underneath Bangka. Geologists have found that the volcanic river underneath Bangka has its source in Krakatau,” Walhi Bangka Belitung director executive Ratno Budi told The Jakarta Post.

BATAN’s argument that Bangka has the least severe threat of earthquake compared to other provinces is also misleading, he said, because in this year alone, two small-scale earthquakes have rocked the resource-rich region.

“BATAN probably insists on building a nuclear power plant, not because Bangka is safe but because it has potential for thorium, which is a raw material for fourth generation nuclear,” Ratno added.

Nuclear activities in other countries still use uranium as raw material but the proponents of nuclear energy have been looking at the possibility of using thorium in nuclear reactors, which is predicted to be more efficient and create less waste compared to uranium.

However, there are no studies confirming that it is safe to use thorium as raw nuclear material. India, a country with nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants, is still researching the use of thorium for power plants.

Executive director of Walhi Central Java Ismail Al Habib also lashed out at the plan to build a plant in Jepara, which he said had suffered from two significant earthquakes over the past two years.

“It is better for the government to forget its plan for nuclear energy because it is dangerous and at the same time many other choices available,” Ismail said.

Greenpeace Southeast Asia climate and energy coordinator Arif Fiyanto described the government’s nuclear plan as ill-advised, adding that the NGO’s report in 2011 found that nuclear energy was inherently dangerous.

The report cited the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011 to encourage the government to drop its nuclear power plant agenda.

Proponents of nuclear say that no region in Indonesia is completely free from earthquakes, but the government could utilize new technologies to make future nuclear power plants in Indonesia resistant to any natural disaster.

Arif said after the Greenpeace report was published, there had been no technological advancements that could justify the presence of nuclear power plants in Indonesia.

“Those who promote nuclear energy in Indonesia always say they will build it with the latest technology. But show me where on this earth a nuclear power plant that uses the latest technology [is safe]?” Arif told the Post.

Despite Arif’s objections, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which visited Indonesia in mid-September, has concluded that Indonesia is ready to build nuclear power plants.

“We still have to use the reactors from other countries. We also have to take into account the supply of uranium that we have. We might be dependent on other countries with a supply of uranium. Instead of energy sovereignty, we will actually become energy dependent,” said Arif.

Arif said global warming and climate change had made Indonesia, a country that is a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, even more prone to disasters, not only earthquakes.

“In fact, we are getting more and more prone to disasters due to changes in the environment as well as climate change,” said Arif, adding that building nuclear power plants in Indonesia was extremely risky.

Countries with sophisticated nuclear technology such as Japan and Germany have even shut down several of their nuclear power plants due to environmental considerations.

Building a nuclear plant also takes a long time, at least 10 years, and is expensive, costing around Rp 60 trillion (US$ 4.62 billion) to Rp 70 trillion for a 1,400 MW power plant.