New Research (II) - Reasons to construct a nuclear power plant in Java

Apparently, the lack of energy constitutes one of the key problems hampering economic development in Indonesia. There is a growing demand for energy if Indonesia wants to sustain its economic growth. The demand for electricity, is understandable and the need to secure a long-term electricity supply is more pressing in Java. It is known that after 2016, Java and Bali alone will need an additional 1,500 to 2,000MW annually. Indonesia desperately needs new sources of electricity to meet rising demand. It wants to develop a nuclear power plant on Java island despite concerns by environmental groups that country's frequent earthquakes makes nuclear power unsafe.

Motivation
Indonesia has various reasons for wanting to build nuclear reactors:

1. Domestic energy consumption in Indonesia is growing rapidly.

2. Nuclear energy will reduce Indonesia's dependence on its limited resources such as petroleum, a non-renewable resource. Indonesia, an OPEC member and long-time net oil exporter became a net importer of oil at the beginning of 2005. Nuclear energy, like coal, natural gas, and biofuel may allow Indonesia to diversify from petroleum.

3. If domestic energy consumption can be provided through nuclear energy, it may be possible to export more oil, resulting in a rise in economy for Indonesia.

4. Producing other renewable energy from other sources, such as wind power and solar power, are far more
expensive.

5. Japan, like Indonesia, earthquakes frequently occur, has nuclear reactors.

6. The emission of harmful gases can be reduced.

Note: The construction of a nuclear power plant in Java, Indonesia is at a high risk of being a white elephant and one precedent here is the reactor that was built in the Philippines at the cost of 2 billion dollars and has never generated a single watt of useful electricity due to safety concerns over it. Also, Indonesia currently does not have any significant nuclear industry at the moment, except for a small research reactor which does not produce much waste. Thus, it can be said that Indonesia has very little experience with managing waste. They do not have any operating nuclear waste repository so one thing that is certainly an issue in Australia is a possibility that Australia might be asked not only to sell uranium to Indonesia but also to take back the high-level nuclear waste.

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