From: abasu@IASTATE.EDU (Anujit Basu)
Subject: Re: Indonesian version of nuclear power plants
Reply-To: abasu@IASTATE.EDU (Anujit Basu)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 17:39:55 GMT

In article <1992Dec30.065417.15833@random.ccs.northeastern.edu>,
okidz@ccs.northeastern.edu (Oki D Zakaria) writes:

> 
> >Nuclear wastes, in the form of used fuel, can be reprocessed and used in a
> >different kind of reactor [...] 
> 
> This doesn't mean that the reactors with the different design generate
> environmentally-safe materials as the waste, does it? 
> 

These reactors will produce fuel that can be reused in the previous kind of
reactor. This is called a closed fuel cycle. At every stage of reprocessing, the
stable elements are removed from the used fuel, and the radioactive elements are
processed for further use.

> 
> At the other side, Indonesia, as a developing country sees the nuclear 
> technology is a kind of hitech that it's worth it to be mastered. By doing
> so, there's a hope that, later, Indonesia will be known as a developed
> country (a slight increment in the internal pride).
> 

A country like India started out on its Nuclear program with just such a
misconception. After spending billions of dollars in scarce resources, Indian
scientists now have mastery over the complete fuel cycle. But, they are still
unable to build power plant that can run economically. Looks like Indonesia will
be spared this trap, as it will start out with a proven technology.

> Looks like a win-win situation though, considering the fact that Indonesia
> is short at least 15% in the supply of electricity. The nuclear
> powered source of energy can be seen as a kind of an instant cure.
> 
Considering the economic forcasts of a major explosion of manufacturing
activities in Indonesia, the power from the nuclear plants may be very welcome.


> How expensive is it to build a reprocessing center for the waste generated
> by a 600MW plant? I really doubt that there would be any countries which
> are willing to reprocess it. If there's any, it might be that the cost is
> high. And exporting a shipload of nuclear wastes is a quite dim picture,
> isn't it?  

It is not economical to build and operate a reprocessing facility for one
nuclear power plant. Such a facility will cost about 5 to 10 billion dollars,
and so, is not feasable in the Indonesian context. Someone else with such a
facility will be willing to reprocess this fuel because it is not a burden but
an economically viable business proposition. I don't expect the cost for the
Indonesian government to be too high. Moreover, the waste reprocessing
technology is improving every day, with a view of making it as safe and economic
as possible.

A couple of months back, Japan sent a ship-load of spent fuel for reprocessing
to France. The shipment was widely condemned by environmentalists, and the ship
was routinely harassed by ships belonging to Greenpeace. But what is frequently
overlooked is the fact that fuel is shipped in containers that are virtually
indestructable. There have been demonstrations of a freight train running into
one of these containers, and still there beeing no leaks from these containers.

One cannot ignore the fact that nuclear power has been the safest and least
environmentally damaging of the power sources developed by man. Forget solar
power for the moment, because it is still a cosmetic technology in its current
state.

> 
> Oki
> okidz@ccs.northeastern.edu
> 


Anujit Basu.
abasu@iastate.edu
Newsgroups: alt.culture.indonesia