The East Kalimantan administration plans to build a nuclear
power plant in 2016 to meet the electricity needs of several areas of
the province, an official has said.
East Kalimantan Governor Awang
Faroek Ishak said the administration had allocated adequate funds for
feasibility studies for the plant’s construction, which could
potentially attract investment from the central government in the 2016
regional budget.
The planned nuclear plant would be built in Talisayan, Berau regency, as outlined in the memorandum of understanding (MoU)
signed between the East Kalimantan administration and the National
Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan) recently, he said.
“The
first step is to carry out a feasibility study. Hopefully the central
government will allocate funds from the state budget to help construct
the plant,” Awang said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.
The
governor said part of the study would center on calculating the exact
amount of funds needed to build the plant, which would be calculated by
administration officials themselves.
Awang added that the project
would be a significant contributor to the national energy sector. “The
condition was if the central government wanted to exploit East
Kalimantan’s fossil fuel potential, they must compensate it by building
a nuclear power plant,” he said.
The
administration chose Berau as the site of the plant as it was
considered “safe”, especially from earthquakes. The area was also said
to have wide open
spaces and easy access to the sea. (dyl/ebf)(++++)
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