KEPCO Eyes Nuclear Power Plant in Indonesia
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
South Korea's state-run electric power corporation is seeking to take part in a nuclear power plant project in Indonesia with advanced technology and recorded data the company has accumulated over the past decades.
Officials at the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said Tuesday that it has made a formal proposal for the ambitious project on the occasion of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's state visit to South Korea July 23-25.
``We seek the construction of nuclear power plants in Indonesia as a government-level cooperation project between the two countries,'' one of the KEPCO officials said. ``We are confident that our project would be very successful.''
Long-Delayed Project
Indonesia, a nation abundant with natural resources such as oil, coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG), currently produces more than 80 percent of its electricity from thermal power generation.
But the Southeast Asian country has been pushing for the construction of nuclear power stations recently for an optimal development of power resources due to pressures from the rising domestic demand for such traditional resources as oil and gas.
Since it first reviewed a possible introduction of an atomic power plant in 1971, the country has conducted feasibility studies along with the United States, France, Italy and other advanced countries for the project from 1978 to 1965.
Consequently, the country decided to construct nuclear power plants in partnership with other countries to supply some 7 billion kilowatts out of the total electric power capacity of 27 million kilowatts until 2015.
Indonesia's nuclear power plant project seemed to be going well until 1997, as the nation conducted a second-phase feasibility study that won presidential and legislative approvals for the plan to operate the country's first atomic power plant in Java from 2006.
Since the country has escaped from the implications of the 1997 financial crisis that hit many Asian countries, Indonesia is once again gearing up for an even more ambitious plan to complete its first two 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plants until 2016.
S. Korea _ Prepared Partner
South Korea has long engaged in Indonesia's nuclear power plant project since the mid-1990s, participating in the feasibility studies and inviting the country's key government officials in relevant fields.
In 1996, the KEPCO signed a pact with Indonesia's nuclear-power agency for technology cooperation. KEPCO officials also held workshops and other events to explain the nuclear power plant project to Indonesians on numerous occasions.
In particular, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the ``Promotion of Nuclear Power Plant in Indonesia'' last December, when President Roh Moo-hyun made a state visit to the Southeast Asian country.
Indonesia gives top priority to financial problems for its nuclear power plant project and prefers a private-led project, in which investors both at home and abroad could participate together, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy.
``We already proposed a public-private partnership (PPP) approach in May, when our economic delegation composed of figures from both public and private sectors visited Indonesia,'' said a ministry official.
Under the KEPCO proposal, made during Yudhoyono's visit here, investment would be led by the governments of the two countries first and then private sectors would be invited later to join the project to build two Korean-standard OPR-1000 plants.
South Korea, though lacking natural resources, has emerged as the world's sixth-largest country in terms of nuclear power generation, meeting about 40 percent of its total electricity demand with nuclear power.
Beside the 20 atomic power stations with a combined capacity of 17,716 megawatts and four one million-kilowatt plants currently under construction, South Korea plans to build four additional power plants until 2017.
``Unlike advanced countries such as the U.S. and European nations which have scarcely built nuclear power plants since the 1980s, we have much experience as well as up-to-date technologies since we has built more than 10 plants since the 1990s,'' a KEPCO official said.
``In particular, the benefits of standardization and construction in series were realized with our 1,000-megawatt Optimized Power Reactor (OPR), which boasts the highest-ever efficiency and has so far witnessed no single accident,'' he added.
Economic Ties
South Korea's participation in the Indonesian nuclear power plant construction project would certainly accelerate economic cooperation between the two countries.
On the occasions of Roh's state visit to Indonesia last December and Yudhoyono's return visit to South Korea this week, the two nations' economic ties are expected to be further strengthened.
Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina and power utility PLN were to sign contracts worth $1 billion with a number of South Korean companies after one-year negotiations on energy sector, according to The Jakarta Post.
Pertamina would sign a joint venture agreement with E1, a subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate LG, to build a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant in South Sumatra, the Indonesian newspaper quoted the company's president director Ari Sumarno as saying.
In the upstream sector, the English-language daily added, Pertamina would sign letters of intent with the state-run Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and private energy firm SK Corp. for joint exploration work in the eastern part of Indonesia.
KEPCO officials also continued discussions with their counterparts from the PLN on the proposed construction of a gas-fired power plant in Bojonegara, Banten, with an installed capacity of 750 megawatts.
``Given the complementary relations between the two countries, the potential of the bilateral cooperation would be huge,'' KEPCO President and CEO Lee Won-gul said. ``I hope the KEPCO could take the van of the mutual partnership.''