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Russia offers turnkey nuclear plants to Indonesia: Luhut
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An illustration of an atomic particle for nuclear energy.
(Shutterstock/File)
R
ussian Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation has offered to develop turnkey nuclear power plants in Indonesia, said Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan on Thursday.
The firm has offered to develop nuclear power plants in regions where there is no threat of earthquake, such as Bangka in Sumatra and East Kalimantan, Luhut said.
“However, we have told them that we are not ready yet. We need to raise public awareness, which takes time,” he said following a meeting with Rosatom representatives at his office in Jakarta.
(Read also: PLN to go nuclear if renewable energy goal flops)
Luhut said Rosatom was able to built power plants that had capacities of more than 1,000 megawatts.
“Even so, we need to review everything first. Even if we do agree [to Rosatom’s offer], the process will take 10 years, so we have not decided on anything yet,” he said.
Although state-owned electricity firm PLN’s most recent electricity procurement plan (RUPTL) maintains that nuclear energy will be the last resort for electricity procurement, it notes that the energy source must be considered if renewable sources from water, wind, geothermal, solar and biomass failed to meet the target.
As Indonesia is an archipelagic country, PLN also makes specific note of the possible use of small modular reactors, which can produce up to 300 megawatts of electricity, for certain islands, adding that further study would be needed as small modular reactors were not commercially available. (bbn)
