Indonesia embarks on ambitious path with plans for 02 Nuclear Projects in 2024

Jakarta, The Gulf Observer: Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) informed on Friday that it will work on 02 nuclear installation projects in 2024.

“We will collaborate with the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (INET) of Tsinghua University,” the head of BRIN’s Nuclear Power Research Organization, Rohadi Awaludin, said in a statement released by BRIN here.

The first project pertains to the strengthening of nuclear accelerator technology, and the second is a fourth-generation nuclear reactor project.

BRIN is currently developing the Accelerator Driven System (ADS) to produce radioisotopes. Accelerator installations play an important role in answering the challenges faced in managing radioactive waste from nuclear reactor operations.

The radioisotopes production project is located in a nuclear reactor area in Serpong, South Tangerang city, Banten province.

“We are focusing on the production of radioisotopes, which is currently a national need,” Awaludin said.

In 2024, BRIN, together with foreign partners, will start designing a fourth-generation small modular reactor (SMR), a fission reactor that is smaller than conventional reactors.

The SMR technology has a lower investment value and offers more flexibility in operation and maintenance, and it has the potential to support national energy security for archipelagic countries like Indonesia.

Awaludin said that the fourth-generation reactor has higher safety because it is resistant to temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Celsius, erasing the risk of fuel melting due to high temperatures.

“The fourth-generation reactor is safer. We are still in the early stages of the development, which is designing,” he informed.

This year, BRIN made 1,217 research achievements.

Most of the research was on environmental sustainability with 266 titles, energy 220 research titles, food 218 research titles, and 156 health research titles.