At a meeting between Rosatum and East Kalimantan provincial administration in Jakarta on Wednesday, Rosatom said it was ready to build a nuclear research center in the Buluminung Industrial Estate," Vice Regent of Penajam Paser Utara Mustaqim MZ said here on Thursday.
Mustaqim said the meeting was held at the request of Rosatum, adding such meetings have been held several time before to discuss details about the plan to build the nuclear research center called The Buluminung Nuclear Industry-Science Technopark.
It was already determined thah the location of The Buluminung Nuclear Industry-Science Technopark (BNI-STP) is the Buluminung Industrial Estate in the regency of Penajam Paser Utara, he said.
"The project was planned by the East Kalimantan provincial administration and the National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan),"he said.
In February , 2017 , Batan visited the regency of Penajam Paser Utara as part of the preparation for the construction of the BNI-STP. A technical team from Batan had studied the possible location for the nuclear research center.
A survey has also been carried out to prepare a report of a feasibility study for the project. The Penajam Paser Utara district administration is to provide a land plot of at least 20 hectares for the BNI-STP project, he said.
He said the district would benefit from the construction of the BNI-STP project such as in the new jobs it would provide. "We are confident later on the regency of Penajam Paser Utara would grow to become a big industrial area," he said.
Earlier, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said Rosatum offered to develop turnkey nuclear power plants in Indonesia.
The company offered to develop nuclear power plants in regions where there is no threat of earthquake, such as Bangka in Sumatra and East Kalimantan, Luhut said.
"However, we have told them that we are not ready yet. We need to raise public awareness, which takes time," he said following a meeting with Rosatom representatives at his office in Jakarta.
Luhut said Rosatom was able to built power plants that had capacities of more than 1,000 megawatts.
"Even so, we need to review everything first. Even if we do agree [to Rosatom's offer], the process will take 10 years, so we have not decided on anything yet," he said.
State-owned electricity company PLN has said that nuclear energy will be the last resort for electricity procurement, but development of nuclear energy must be considered if renewable sources from water, wind, geothermal, solar and biomass failed to meet the target.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
