C

onstrained by high costs associated with tapping alternative energy sources to fossil fuels, the government has revived discussion on its long-shelved nuclear plan with the House of Representatives.

House Commission VII overseeing energy has opened the discussions with relevant ministries following the passage of a law to ratify the Paris Agreement, which sealed the country’s commitment to cut carbon emissions.

The government shelved the plan to build its first nuclear power plant in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.

Although nuclear was mentioned as an alternative renewable energy source in a government regulation on the National Energy Policy (KEN), the adoption of nuclear power has not been included in the long-term strategy plan of state-owned power operator PLN, which has become increasingly reliant on coal.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar told The Jakarta Post that the government should consider nuclear to meet energy demand, arguing that, despite its controversial nature, nuclear is categorized as clean energy.

Safety concerns have dominated most discussions on the development of nuclear power, given that Indonesia lies amid the volatile Pacific Ring of Fire. The country has delayed the development for years and its energy policy stipulates that nuclear power development should only be a “last resort”.

“I don’t think there would be any bad impact from the use [of nuclear power]. It’s clean energy,” the minister said. “There are, indeed, some worries about leakages, but I guess we should learn from other countries [that already use the energy].”

If the government decides to adopt nuclear power, it would be decided by the National Energy Council, which is led by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Two sites, Bangka and Jepara, have been studied as possible locations.

Indonesia has ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change, which aims to formalize the country’s commitment to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, within an international framework reached by the UN in 2015 in an effort to curb climate change.

To realize the effort, House Commission VII has argued that the use of new and renewable energy, particularly nuclear, needs to be considered, to reduce the use of gas, oil and coal as energy sources.

“It’s a good time to open the possibility of developing a nuclear power plant, but that doesn’t mean we will stop using coal, gas or oil. We have to revise our national energy policy. If needed, we will revise the Energy Law to make nuclear power no longer a last resort,” Commission VII member Kurtubi of the NasDem Party said.

Energy consumption in Indonesia is expected to rise exponentially as a result of population growth, and with the dependence on fossil fuels it will be a major carbon-emission contributor alongside deforestation, with energy overtaking deforestation as the largest carbon-emission contributor as early as 2020.

In 2015, 55.9 percent of electricity was generated by coal, 25.7 percent by gas and 8.5 percent by oil. Renewable energy sources, such as hydropower and geothermal energy, only make up the remaining 9.9 percent of electricity generation, according to PLN.

The government had planned to shift from fossil fuels to cleaner renewable energy by increasing electricity generation from renewable energy to 25 percent by 2025. However, this commitment by the government has been questioned as it recently lowered the percentage of electricity to be generated by renewable energy by 2025 to 19.6 percent.