S Sulawesi Needs Nuclear Power Plants
Makassar (ANTARA Sulsel) - The South Sulawesi provincial administration is in need of a nuclear power plant (PLTN) to overcome the power crisis facing the province.
South Sulawesi deputy governor H. Agus Arifin Numang said here Tuesday it is time for the province to use nuclear energy as power consumption in the area had been constantly increasing each year.
"Nuclear energy will be utilized properly, but it is not right to use it for waging war," he said.
The many advantages of using nuclear energy to generate electricity are that it did not produce greenhouse gas emissions as long a PLTN is operating normally. Greenhouse gas will be produced only if using an emergency diesel generator, but the gas produced would be very little.
Electricity generated by using nuclear energy does not cause air pollution, because this energy does not produce toxic gases like carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, aerosol, mercury, nitrogen oxide, particulate or photochemical vapor.
While it is friendly to the environment, nuclear energy is quite efficient because its fuel consumption is very low, and the solid waste it produces is also not to much providing a PLTN is operating normally.
He also believe that it is about time to privatize the electricity system in South Sulawesi. "Look at privatization of Telkom, the use of the existing means of communication has become so easy. Our electricity system should operate like that," he said.
Power consumption in this province has become an urgent matter, the number of prospective subscribers on the waiting list of PLN had reached 67,000 with a demand for 100 megawatts (MW).
The construction of residential areas in the province had been too sluggish due to the lack of electricity. "Not to mention the declining exports from South Sulawesi due to the lack of power supply for industrial establishments," he said.
Rotating power cuts in the industrial estates need to be stopped immediately because blackouts will affect the interest of industrialists to enter the special industrial estates.
(T.H-NG/A014)
