Is Indonesia ready for nuclear power?
This has been a recent topic of debate in Indonesia in light of the current predicament of the Japanese Government in trying to contain and control nuclear reactors that were damaged by the recent earthquake and tsunami. Currently Indonesia is planning to build a nuclear power plant in Muria Peninsula, East Java, despite the unsurprising protests of locals and environmental groups. The plant is expected to be operational in 2016. The overriding issues raised in this debate is, that if a technologically advanced nation such as Japan is unable to guarantee the safety of its nuclear power plants, then how could Indonesia – especially given the prevalence of earthquakes and other natural disasters in our region? Surely other clean energy options, such as thermal, hydro and even wind are more desirable sources of power? Speaking of which, Indonesia’s first large scale wind farm is planned to be built in Sukabumi. The initial turbine plant will have a capacity of 30 megawatts, and according the Global Wind Energy Council; Indonesia wants to build 255MW of wind turbine capacity by 2025. It a shame that they didn’t capture the energy from the storm winds earlier this week in Jakarta that blew over many trees and signboards!
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