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Jakartaâs nuclear dream
EFLIndonesiaâs plans to use nuclear power to meet its spiralling energy demands have been boosted by the Russian Governmentâs approval of a draft agreement allowing it to build nuclear power plants in Indonesia. Russian news agency Interfax on Tuesday night announced the draft agreement between the Russian and Indonesian governments covering "co-operation in the peaceful usage of nuclear energy". Gee, this sounds familiar. "The document states that Russia and Indonesia will work together on developing, designing, constructing and operating research reactors and nuclear power plants, including low-capacity nuclear power plants, and pertinent research associated with them," the Interfax statement said. Now where have I heard this before? Although it is the worldâs biggest natural gas producer, Indonesia has long expressed a desire to build nuclear power plants to meet a power shortage that the World Bank says poses serious threats to the country. Letâs see, plenty of natural gas, power shortage, wants nuclear power plant, islamic majority, wait, itâll come to me..... However, there is considerable opposition to nuclear power, especially in the likely location of Java, which is dotted with active volcanoes and is the worldâs most densely populated island. There were major protests in the mid-1990s when former technology minister Habibie proposed a nuclear power plant on the slopes of an active volcano. Now thereâs a really good idea, for a disaster movie that youâd watch and laugh at because nobodyâs that stupid. Indonesia is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Interfax statement stressed it would not have the right to use the nuclear materials and technologies it receives for creating nuclear explosive devices. And nobody would violate the treaty, right? The agreement with Russia is for 10 years, with an extension for a further five years, and it is considered unlikely that any project will be started before 2010. Russia is keen to sell its nuclear technology and is building power plants in Iran, India and China. Thatâs who it was, Iran! Well, we donât have anything to worry about in Indonesia, I mean itâs not like they have a problem with terrorists or anything. Posted by: Steve 2003-08-21 |
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