Jakarta – The Indonesian government is going ahead with plans to build the country's first nuclear power plant in densely populated, earthquake-prone Central Java, officials said Friday.

"The first nuclear power plant should be in operation by 2016," Soedyartomo Soentono, chief of the National Atomic Agency (Batan) said.

Soentono explained that a comprehensive feasibility study was conducted in 2001 to 2002 by a national team supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on all possible energy sources to be used for electricity power generation in the country.

Based on that feasibility study's results, the use of a nuclear power plant in the country was feasible and "could not be avoided" to support electricity supply in the Java-Bali grid.

The feasibility study's conclusion was already formally submitted by IAEA to Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri in August of last year, he added.

The plant will be built on the Muria peninsula in Central Java, which has been under study for years, Soentono said.

Indonesian environmentalists have criticized the proposed plant, saying there are cheaper, safer ways of generating power since the country has abundant geothermal, coal and natural gas resources.

"It's too risky to built a nuclear power plant in crowded Java island. If anything happens, it will be a catastrophe," said Fabby Tumiwa from the Indonesian Environmental Organization (Walhi).

Tumiwa also argued that building a nuclear plant would be a major risk because of the frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes on the island.

Java accounts for more than 60 per cent of Indonesia's 215 million population who inhabit the 17,000 islands that comprise this sprawling archipelago nation.