Jakarta. South Korea, which already generates over a quarter of its electricity from nuclear reactors, is offering a partnership for coal-reliant Indonesia to tap into this power source.

President Prabowo Subianto has been open to the idea of Indonesia embracing the nuclear path, even framing it as a cheap solution to cut emissions. The country is even aiming to bring its first nuclear reactor online by 2032. And Seoul wants in on this ambition, according to South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Yoon Soongu in his exclusive interview with the Jakarta Globe.

“Indonesia has a quite constant plan to build a nuclear power plant,” Yoon Soongu said at the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

“We are quite a formidable force in this area. We have 25 nuclear power plants on our soil,” the diplomat explained. 

South Korea had clinched overseas contracts, the envoy said, alluding to the deal anchored by the state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). In late 2009, a KEPCO-led consortium clinched a $20 billion deal to build four nuclear reactors in the UAE. KEPCO’s subsidiary Korea The Czech Republic had also awarded Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. the Dukovany nuclear contract.

“We are ready to cooperate with Indonesia. Many people are talking about small modular reactors [SMRs] and conventional nuclear power plants. We have the technologies,” Yoon Soongu told the Globe. 

Prabowo and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung had raised the possibility in their April meeting. They are also open to “exploring opportunities for cooperation with leading nuclear partners”, the leaders’ joint statement wrote.

PLN Indonesia Power, a subsidiary of the state-run energy firm, has wrapped up a US-backed techno-economic study on SMR construction in West Kalimantan. The study uses technologies from the Oregon-based nuclear company NuScale. An SMR’s capacity is one-third of a conventional reactor.

Russian nuclear agency Rosatom, not long ago, claimed that its negotiations with Indonesia had advanced. Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev had even told the press that they were “moving toward agreements” on setting up floating nuclear power plants. Rosatom will also partner with “local businesses interested in technology localization”.

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