JAKARTA — Coal-dependent Indonesia is reviving decades-old plans to build nuclear power plants that were put on hold following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, as it seeks to meet its decarbonisation targets.
Some members of the public and experts, however, have voiced concerns about the risks of a nuclear disaster in the quake-prone country, despite one of the leading candidate sites being an uninhabited island considered not to be in an active seismic zone.
The government began discussing the revival of the plan last year as it seeks to reshape its energy policy. Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Yuliot told an international nuclear forum in Jakarta in December that a new energy strategy would “explicitly” require the use of nuclear energy “to balance the energy mix and achieve decarbonisation targets.”
Plans to build nuclear power plants were first made in the mid-1990s under then President Suharto.
Although Indonesia in 2014 designated nuclear power as a “last option” as an energy source following the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant caused by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the country shifted to treating it as a “strategic choice” last year.
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources says that it aims to have Indonesia’s first nuclear power plant operational by 2032 at the earliest, with a target for nuclear energy to account for up to 12.1% of the primary energy mix by 2060 with an installed capacity of 35 to 42 gigawatts.
Zainal Arifin, acting head of the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency, stated in Jakarta earlier this year, “It is a good moment for Indonesia to make a decision (on nuclear power plants).”
The energy ministry is still awaiting presidential approval to establish an organisation to implement the nuclear energy programme and formally select a site. Leading candidates reportedly include Semesak Island in West Kalimantan Province on Borneo and the island province of Bangka Belitung.
The government has indicated a preference for Semesak Island and has repeatedly held briefings for residents living nearby.
Some local officials and businesspeople appear to welcome the prospect of a nuclear power plant. Sebastianus Darwis, the regent of Bengkayang Regency, where the island is located, told Kyodo News that he wants the plant to serve as a catalyst for attracting industries to the area, whose economy is based on agriculture and fisheries.
“Nuclear power is clean energy. It is proof of a developed nation. It brings pride,” he said. “We aim to become the first in Southeast Asia to operate a nuclear power plant.”
Semesak Island is located 900 metres off Sungai Raya Village in Bengkayang Regency.
Referring to Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara, under construction in East Kalimantan Province, Darwis added that the planned nuclear plant “would serve as a power source (for the new capital), and we would also like to sell electricity abroad.”
Although Semesak has no inhabitants, fishermen from Sungai Raya frequent the waters surrounding it, which are rich shrimp fishing grounds and take breaks on its shore.
Ramli Umar, 61, a resident of Sungai Raya, expressed mixed feelings about the project, citing the prospect of economic growth but also concerns about radiation. “If this area is selected as a national project, we have no choice but to comply,” he said.
Haripan, 62, a fisherman who has been living in the village for decades, said he would prefer to be relocated to another area if a nuclear power plant is built on the island.
“Of course, I have concerns. I am afraid of the impact of a nuclear power plant. I am also worried that an accident like those at Chernobyl and Fukushima could happen,” he said, referring to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster and that at the Fukushima plant.
An aerial view shows the storage tanks for treated water at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on Feb 13, 2021. (Photo: Kyodo News)
The national government plans to expropriate a total of 300 hectares across the island and a buffer zone on the opposite shore in the regency, according to Darwis.
Indonesia’s plans for nuclear power have also attracted interest overseas. Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian energy ministry in March to assist with the introduction of nuclear energy.
The move came as Japan itself shifts its stance on nuclear power, with its industry ministry in June last year proposing the replacement of two to five aging nuclear reactors by the 2040s and a total of 11 to 14 by the 2050s, setting such a numerical target for the first time since the Fukushima disaster.
Russia appears particularly eager to offer technical cooperation. Alexey Likhachev, director general of the state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom, met Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in May in Jakarta, promising to support the construction plan.
The Indonesian government has said it would prioritise constructing small modular reactors, a technology pioneered by Russia that allows reactor components to be factory-assembled and transported to a location for installation.
Although there have been no large-scale protests against nuclear power in Indonesia in recent years, some opposition remains among members of the public and experts in a country that is frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Fabby Tumiwa, executive director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform, a think tank and non-governmental organisation (NGO) promoting clean energy, said, “I am very critical of this. And the reason for that is not because of ideology or something. I only found that it’s not economically feasible and there are safety issues.”
Warning that new active faults have been discovered in the country in recent years, he cautioned that there is “nothing safe” about siting nuclear power plants in Indonesia.
Tumiwa noted that Japan’s restart of nuclear reactors years after the Fukushima disaster has likely encouraged Indonesia’s policy shift as well.
“We don’t really need nuclear power plants,” he said, arguing that Indonesia has plenty of renewable energy to replace coal thermal power and achieve its decarbonisation targets.