Jakarta. Russia’s Rosatom has said that its offer to help Indonesia tap into nuclear energy still stands as Jakarta awaits the establishment of a watchdog before fully exploring the idea.

Coal-reliant Indonesia aims to generate 500 megawatts of nuclear power by 2033. Russia — a country that has been using this clean power source for decades — has repeatedly nudged Jakarta into partnering with its atomic corporation Rosatom. Its leader, Vladimir Putin, even made the nuclear business pitch at least twice to President Prabowo Subianto. 

At a virtual conference, the Jakarta Globe asked Alexander Tsybulya — the project director at Rosatom — about the latest updates to the negotiations. Tsybulya stated that Rosatom would be happy to provide various nuclear technologies, including the larger-sized ones. But the type of facility that could get Indonesia’s nuclear dream started as soon as possible would be the floating small modular reactors. These reactors are not only smaller in capacity, but can be mounted on a ship at sea, making them well-suited for the country’s archipelagic nature.

“Indonesia’s national plan envisages more than 7 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2040. That calls for large-scale nuclear power plants. We can provide that, [namely] the VVER-1200,” Tsybulya said, referring to Rosatom’s most advanced technology to date.

Senda Hurmuzan Kanam, a senior official at the Energy Ministry, said that Indonesia would welcome any kind of technology, regardless of where they are from. The US, Japan, China, South Korea, and Canada have also approached Jakarta for a possible deal.

However, any meaningful progress would have to wait until Indonesia forms a Nuclear Energy Program Implementation Organization (NEPIO). This Prabowo-led body will oversee the planning and development of the reactors. Senda did not give a timeline on when the NEPIO would take shape. However, the presidential regulation on its establishment is only waiting for Prabowo’s signature.

“We have not opened the bid yet because we are still waiting for the NEPIO,” Senda told the same forum.

“We are open to all technologies, but we have not made any decision yet.”

At home, Washington is among the foreign candidates that have made the most progress in wooing Jakarta. PLN Indonesia Power, a subsidiary of the state utility company, has partnered with the Oregon-headquartered nuclear firm NuScale to run feasibility studies on small modular reactor development in West Kalimantan. The project involves a subsidiary of the Texas-based Fluor and Japan’s JGC.