Indonesian nuclear power proposals

Latest news

Suparman, ‘Economic Indicators Assessment of NPP Project in Indonesia‘, 8th INPRO Dialogue Forum: Toward Nuclear Energy System Sustainability: Economics, Resource Availability, and Institutional Arrangements, 26-29 August 2014, IAEA, Vienna, Austria.

Margareth S. Aritonang, ‘BATAN seeks partnership with Russia’s Rosatom‘, The Jakarta Post, 4 September 2014.

Introduction

There have been several serious recent proposals for nuclear power projects in Indonesia, in the provinces of Central Java, Bangka-Belitung, Gorontalo, and Madura. As of late 2014, the Bangka NPP proposal for a 4,000 Mw reactor is the one most favoured by the National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan) within the Indonesian government, although it is unlikely Batan has completely abandoned its longstanding plans for a largeNPP on theMuria Peninsula in Central Java.

Bangka NPP proposal

In 2010 Batan announced a new proposal to build a large nuclear power station on the island of Bangka in Bangka-Belitung province. Two sites in South and West Bangka have been nominated, and a feasibility study was carried out. According to Batan, these sites were to be developed in partnership the Slovakian nuclear power industry, and private Indonesian companies, although Russian interest is strong.

Muria NPP proposal

For more than three decades parts of the Indonesian government (mainly the National Atomic Energy Agency [Batan] and the Ministry for Research and Technology) as well the IAEA and would be nuclear reactor vendors in Japan, Korea, and Russia, have advocated constructing a large nuclear power station on the north coast of Central Java, on the Muria Peninsula. Due to persistent, strong local opposition, and serious doubts about the suitability of the proposed site, Batan announced its preference for an alternative site, although there is reason to believe it retains an interest in theMuria Peninsula site. Batan proposed building to build four 1,000 MW pressurised water reactors (PWR) at Ujung Lemahabang in the village of Balong, about 20kms northeast ofJepara, as the agency’s third substantial attempt at getting government commitment to a nuclear plant on theMuria peninsula since the early 1980s. The first Muria NPP proposal, strongly supported by then Minister for Research and Technology B.J.Habibie, was thwarted in the late 1980s by opposition from the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance, combined with the then dominant military’s visceral dislike of Habibie. The second attempt in the mid-1990s ended with the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the subsequent fall of the New Order. The third attempt commenced in the early 2000s, but has officially been replaced by the Bangka NPP proposal.

Small Modular NPP proposal

In September 2014, Batan announced a partnership with RussianNPP vendor Rosatom to explore the possibility of building a 30 Mw NPP.

Gorontalo Floating NPP proposal

In the mid 2000s Russian nuclear plant vendorRosatom, proposed a small Russian-built floating nuclear power plant to supply electricity to Sulawesi fromGorontalo province. This was strongly supported by theGorontalo provincial government, but appears to have been abandoned.

Madura Desalination NPP proposal

For many years Batan, the IAEA, and KoreanNPP vendor KEPCO/KHNP have promoted the construction of a 100 w SMART reactor on the island of Madura in East Java as a desalination plant which will also generate electricity.