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Indonesian officials favouring nuclear plant

JAKARTA: Indonesian Mines and Energy Ministry officials support the idea of building the country's first nuclear power plant on crowded Java island despite popular opposition to the plan, newspaper reports said on Monday.

The Jakarta Post newspaper quoted Yogo Pratomo, director general of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, as saying that demand for energy was growing at more than nine percent annually and nuclear power projects were therefore inevitable.

Indonesia's National Atomic Agency (BATAN) said in January it hoped to build the country's first nuclear power station in 1998 or 1999, pending the results of a study of the Mount Muria site on Java island, 440 km (275 miles) east of Jakarta.

Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said on Saturday that a final decision on the power plant has yet to be taken.

"The debate is not final yet," Alatas said on Australia's SBS television network.-Reuter