Indonesia to adopt better nuclear technology than Japan

Despite the Japan nuclear crisis, Indonesia will press on with plans to build a nuclear plant close to a fault line.

“If we pick to build it on Bangka Island, it will be based on several considerations which are in line with international safety criteria,” National Atomic Energy Agency chief Hudi Hastowo said.

Bangka lies east of Sumatra island, where a 9.1-magnitude undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami in 2004 killing 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

“The site has a relatively stable record of seismic and volcanic activity,” he said, adding that the agency will “certainly” adopt more sophisticated technology than Japan.

“It’s too premature to discuss how the Japan crisis will directly affect our project,” he said.

“But in 2022 when we build the plant, we’ll use a better technology system,” he added.

The disaster that has befallen Japan’s Fukushima plant has prompted some experts to cast a worried eye at nuclear plants in seismic zones.