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Indonesia's Hungry for Energy

DW Staff (act)November 30, 2007

In Southeast Asia, economic growth is fuelling a huge energy demand and every other state is thinking of going nuclear. Indonesia too. It already has three research reactors and in 2008 the construction of a 2000-megawatt nuclear reactor is supposed to begin. Experts are selling atomic energy as being able to kill two birds with one stone by providing enough energy and helping protect the environment. But not everyone is buying their argument.

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Anti-nuclear campaigners say Indonesia is too prone to earthquakes for power stations to be safe
Anti-nuclear campaigners say Indonesia is too prone to earthquakes for power stations to be safeImage: picture-alliance/ dpa

About 240 million people live in Indonesia -- over half of them on the main island Java. The nation is made up of almost 20,000 islands and it is particularly prone to climate change. During the dry season, extreme droughts lead to starvation. Whereas during the monsoon season, the floods are getting worse every year.

However, the economy continues to grow at an astonishing pace, and energy demand is increasing by 10 percent a year. "Indonesia needs power," says the country's leading nuclear energy expert Budi Sudarsono, explaining that nuclear energy is economic compared to coal.

"Coal is available in large quantities in Indonesia -- on Sumatra and Kalimantan -- but the demand is highest on Java island and it's growing fast. Very soon there will be difficulty getting coal to our power plants on Java because of logistical and shipping problems."

Anti-nuclear campaigns

Several environmental associations and political groupings are campaigning against the construction of nuclear reactors in Indonesia for safety reasons. Vast parts of the country lie on the volcanic belt known as the Pacific Fire Ring. Earthquakes occur frequently.

But Budi Sadarsono says this is not a valid argument: "Japan is also, perhaps more earthquake-prone, than Indonesia. There are lots of tectonic plates meeting in Japan. In Indonesia, the subduction zones lie south of Sumatra and Java. The northern coast of Java is relatively free of earthquakes, so there should not be a problem."

Sadarsono and other nuclear experts say atomic energy is not only safer, but cheaper and cleaner than coal. But coal is not responsible for the country's massive CO2 emissions.

Deforestation

The deforestation of the rainforests has made Indonesia the world's biggest polluter after the United States and China.

Paradoxically, more tropical rainforest has been destroyed since the West decided to use palm oil as bio-fuel. Daily, hundreds of hectares of forest are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations.

At next month's climate conference in Bali, Jakarta has tabled the protection of the rainforests as a main topic of debate. It also wants to be well-compensated.

Economy versus environment

That's the problem in many Southeast Asian countries. Economic interests are clashing with climate policies.

Singapore's prime minister Lee Hsien Loong made this clear at a recent ASEAN conference:

"Developing countries Indonesia, China or India have made eloquent presentations about why economic development is a priority -- even though the imperatives of climate change have to be addressed they cannot afford to leave people in absolute poverty, as still remains the case among a large proportion of them."

About a quarter of the population lives under the poverty line in Indonesia. But it's debatable whether their troubles will be alleviated by nuclear power.