REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Secretary General of the National Energy Council (DEN) Djoko Siswanto said his agency has finished drafting the Nuclear Energy Program Implementing Organization (NEPIO) as a team to accelerate the preparation and construction of nuclear power plants (NPP) in Indonesia.
Djoko explained that the establishment of NEPIO is one of 19 conditions for Indonesia to be able to commercialize nuclear as recommended by the International Energy Agency (IEA). “IEA recommendation, for nuclear commercialization we must meet 19 requirements, 16 (requirements) we have (met), 3 more of which are NEPIO, then stakeholder support and another government policy,” he said in a press conference on ESDM 2023 sector achievements and 2024 Work Programme in Jakarta, Wednesday (17/1/2024).
Djoko said that DEN has also sent a letter to the Chairman of DEN, namely the president and vice president, regarding the establishment of NEPIO and nuclear development. The organization will be responsible to the President of the Republic of Indonesia in preparation and implementation of the development of the NPP to support the achievement of the 2060 energy transition and emissions targets.
As for the NPP development acceleration team, it will be chaired by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and Minister of ESDM Arifin Tasrif as Daily Chairperson. NEPIO consists of the Chairman of the Steering Board of BRIN, the Minister/Head of the relevant institutions, the Member of DEN and the Chairman of the Nuclear Power Consideration Assembly (MPTN).
Djoko added that at the end of January there will be a discussion on the NPP development proposal in the form of a focus group discussion (FGD). “Hopefully inside that proposal there is a roadmap (road map),” he said.
According to Djoko, Indonesia actually has a roadmap for the development of NPP from PT Thorcon Power Indonesia. In the roadmap, by 2032 Indonesia will have a 500 MW NPP on Gelasa Island, Bangka Belitung Islands.
In the roadmap, Thorncon has completed a site study, a local community acceptance study has been completed with UNS collaboration, as well as a follow-up study with a number of parties. “We see Thorcon as the most productive because not from the state budget, he finances himself, Rp 17 trillion. The realization is that he has donated Rp 10 billion for the lab with ITB,” he said.
In addition to Thorcon, Djoko mentioned a number of countries ranging from Russia, the United States (US) to France have offered nuclear development projects. However, the process is still in the capacity building stage and is limited to studies even though it has reached millions of US dollars.