Jakarta (AFP) March 16, 2011 Indonesia said Wednesday that it will press on with plans to build a nuclear plant close to a volcanic fault line, despite the nuclear emergency in earthquake and tsunami-ravaged Japan. "If we pick to build it on Bangka island, surely it will be based on several considerations which are in line with international safety criteria," the National Atomic Energy Agency (BATAN) chief Hudi Hastowo told AFP.
Bangka island 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 surely 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.
Twenty percent of the 440 commercial reactors in operation around the globe are located in areas "of significant seismic activity," according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA), an industry group.
Some of the 62 additional reactors under construction are also in quake-prone zones, along with many of the nearly 500 units on order or proposed, especially in fast-developing countries, the group said.
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