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Indonesia can not go nuclear to answer climate change: Greenpeace
JAKARTA, Nov 9 (AFP) Nov 09, 2006
Indonesia does not need nuclear energy as an answer to climate change or for energy security, an environmental watchdog said here Thursday after rejecting the latest IEA report.

"All the associated risks (of nuclear power) when placed in an area with a volatile geological structure like Indonesia will only pose a danger to the Indonesian public," Nur Hidayati, Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner, said.

He told AFP Indonesians "have already suffered from many disasters."

He was responding to the International Energy Agency's 2006 World Energy Outlook, released Tuesday, that said nuclear power could help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and provide reliable electricity in the future.

Greenpeace has described the IEA report as "misguided solutions".

The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire where continental plates meet, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

It has previously said that it plans to build its first nuclear power plant, with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, on densely-populated Java island by 2015. The government however has yet to secure investors.

Indonesia's nuclear power plans were shelved in 1997 in the face of mounting public opposition and the discovery and exploitation of the large Natuna gas field. But the plans were floated again last year amid growing power shortages.

In October, Indonesia's Gorontalo province on Sulawesi island signed a memorandum of understanding with a Russian company to develop a floating nuclear power plant for the province.

Indonesia is a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) but its oil output has fallen in recent years to about one million barrels per day amid flagging fresh investment.

Separately, Wetlands International, a Netherlands-based NGO, said Indonesia could be the third-largest carbon dioxide producer in the world if emissions from burning peatlands counted alongside industrial emissions.

Peatlands, ground and forests burn across Sumatra and Borneo during the dry season sending choking haze that blankets the region.

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