As part of a working visit to Indonesia, Rosatom Director General of Alexey Likhachev held a working meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. Discussions covered promising areas of Russian-Indonesian cooperation in using nuclear energy, including the development of nuclear generation projects, nuclear infrastructure, personnel training and non-energy applications of nuclear technologies.
“It is especially important for us that the dialogue between Russia and Indonesia in the nuclear field is developing in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect,” said Likhachev. “Today Indonesia has set ambitious goals for the development of nuclear energy, so we are discussing not only technologies. We are talking about creating a long-term partnership focused on the development of a new industry for the country, training national personnel, the emergence of new competencies and strengthening the country’s technological independence.”
He added that Rosatom is ready to offer Indonesia an integrated approach to the development of its national nuclear programme, including solutions in the field of high-power nuclear energy and projects of small modular reactors and floating power units. Special attention was paid to the integration of nuclear energy into the Indonesian energy system, taking into account the geographical features of the archipelago country.
“We propose a step-by-step movement in this direction. Expand everything that is now related to the preparation of infrastructure – personnel, research reactors. And start with small stations,” Likhachev said. Taking into account the long coastline and the large number of islands in the Indonesian archipelago, he said, a floating nuclear power plant would be the most optimal solution at the first stage. And then you can move on to high power.”
He noted that President Subianto had described Indonesia’s nuclear plans. “Already at the beginning of the next decade, Indonesia would like to have up to 500 MWe of nuclear electricity, reaching an installed capacity of 7-8 GWe by the 2040s, and by the 2060s achieving approximately the same level as the Russian Federation installed capacity, that is around 35-37 GWe. This means that it is impossible to do without powerful units, units with a capacity of 1,000 – 1,200 MWe. We know how to build them, we know how to build them in different climates, in different regulatory systems. And we discussed in detail all the stages of this project.”
Likhachev’s visit also included meetings with the Minister of Energy & Mineral Resources, the leadership of the National Agency for Research & Innovation, the President Director of the state-owned electricity company PT PLN, as well as with the Speaker of the House of Regional Representatives.
The 20th anniversary of the signing of an intergovernmental agreement between Indonesia and Russia on cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy will be celebrated in December.
