Nuclear Energy: Yes or No?

Sat, 05/17/2008 11:15 AM  |  Opinion

Nuclear energy has been an immense topic for the past few years. Is it safe? Will it last? What are its byproducts? And is nuclear radiation really a problem? These are some of the persistent questions asked by both scientists and non-scientists.

With the rising tension in the nuclear debate, it is a very bold move of the Indonesian government to go ahead with its plan for nuclear power plants.

Building and maintaining a nuclear plant, especially in Indonesia, is a highly expensive and risky job.

Indonesia falls right on the region known as "The Ring of Fire" and is on the border of four tectonic plates: the Indo-Australian Plate, the Pacific Plate, the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate.

This makes Indonesia prone to frequent and strong earthquakes and violent volcanic activities. Any of these two natural disasters could devastate the nuclear program and damage the nuclear stations resulting in a catastrophic nuclear disaster.

But the Yogyakarta research reactor stood strong without any safety-related damage after it was hit by a 5.9-magnitude quake in May 2006, showing that with extreme precautions and advanced technology, things could turn out well for Indonesia.

Where will we get all that state-of-the-art technology? The Russians might have an answer. A Russian electricity company has agreed to build a floating nuclear reactor in the Gorontalo district of North Sulawesi.

Furthermore, in 2006 Indonesia signed treaties for nuclear cooperation with various countries, including South Korea, Russia, Australia and the United States.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, nuclear power provided 6.5 percent of the world's energy and 15.7 percent of the world's electricity as of 2004, with 439 nuclear power reactors in operation in the world, operating in 31 countries.

Indonesia is well under way in its construction of nuclear plants, starting with a reactor on the Muria peninsula in densely populated Central Java.

Although nuclear energy could be highly beneficial to reduce domestic energy consumption and dependency on petroleum, and lower greenhouse gas emissions, the persistent problems of nuclear waste, safety and catastrophic geographical activity loom over the government's, the opposition's and the public's heads.

How Indonesia copes with these troubles and walks past environmental critics, only time will tell.

AIDDHARTH SHANANJAY
10th grade student
Jakarta

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