Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Deputy Foreign Minister Triyono Wibowo said it was a regrettable thing that many Indonesian nuclear experts were now helping Malaysia prepare the construction of nuclear power plants.

"Malaysia has recruited many Indonesian nuclear experts who had quit Batan (Indonesia`s) National Atomic Energy Agency). They were jobless and Malaysia offered them better benefits," Triyono told ANTARA here Wednesday.

Triyono said Malaysia did a smart thing by recruiting the Indonesian nuclear experts because thereby it did not have to educate its own people in nuclear technology, a process that would have taken about 25 years for every expert.

Speaking in his capacity as an expert on nuclear energy laws, Triyono said it was regrettable that the Indonesian nuclear experts were now working for Malaysia because Indonesia itself was preparing to build its own nuclear power plants. If Indonesia continued to lose its experts to other countries, it could eventually lag behind in nuclear energy development.

As far he knew, Triyono said, Malaysia was planning to build several nuclear power-plants that would enable it to produce electricity at lower costs and eventually even sell electricity cheaply to Indonesian industries. Malaysia could export its electricity through submarine cables.

"It is also to be regretted that Indonesia has cancelled construction of its first nuclear power plant in the Muria Peninsula in Central Java," said Triyono who had previously worked in Vienna as Indonesian ambassador to Austria where the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is based.

Construction of Indonesia`s first nuclear power plant was initially scheduled to be started in 2009 and commissioned in 2016 with an installed capacity of 1,000 MW at a cost of 8.0-10 billion US dollars.

IAEA had already approved the plant`s proposed location and the Indonesian government, through its embassy in Vienna, had settled all legal and administrative requirements with IEAE, he said.

(KR-VFT/S012/S026)

Editor: Suryanto
COPYRIGHT © 2012

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