ID Nugroho, Surabaya – The government's controversial plan for a mega nuclear power plant (PLTN) on Madura island, East Java, has been thrust back into the spotlight by a group of students.
The students from Madura's Trunojoyo University (Unijoyo) began a hunger strike on Thursday to pressure the National Atomic Energy Agency (BATAN) to cancel its plan.
At least five of 13 hunger strikers collapsed on Saturday on campus, although they refused to be taken to hospital for medical treatment.
"Maybe, more students will collapse, but we will not cease to protest," said chairman of Unijoyo's Student Executive Board (BEM) Khotib Manzhur.
The number of protesters had initially been 11, but after two days, the addition of two students to the protest had lifted the spirit of the group.
Specifically, the group is protesting the involvement of Unijoyo lecturers in a joint study with the BATAN team for the PLTN.
Striking student Dasuki said the protest was against the construction of a nuclear power plant in Madura.
The project and those doing research to support it should be opposed. It would be detrimental to the people of Madura," he told The Jakarta Post.
Dasuki said university leaders had visited the hunger strikers claiming that Unijoyo would withdraw the academic team from the research if the students stopped the strike.
The strikers, however, rejected the condition. "It's not enough. We demand a written statement signed by the rector of Unijoyo," Dasuki said.
Moreover, the students won the support of many Muslim clerics in Madura.
"Some Madurese clerics voiced their backing in phone calls. They deliberately refrained from visiting the campus to avoid accusations that they mobilized us," Dasuki added.
Local senior councillors, politicians and environmentalists also oppose the nuclear plant. They say the project would be a setback for the country in choosing an alternative source of energy, as other countries have begun to shut down their nuclear reactors.
Anthropologist Laksono from the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University said the plant could pose serious environmental threats.
Radioactive waste from the PLTN would be stored in five-centimeter-thick-steel containers and buried 500 meters underground.
"A leak could spread to a radius of 10 kilometers, like what happened in Chernobyl. Besides causing cancer and physical defects in babies, it could also cause deaths," he said.
With increasing support behind them, the striking students plan to oppose the PLTN through a national meeting of students to be held soon in Bangkalan regency, Madura.
"During the meeting we will draft a concept to join forces against the planned PLTN," Dasuki added.
The controversy surfaced when the government together with South Korea reached an agreement on Oct. 10, 2001 to set up the plant in 2015 in Ketapang subdistrict, Sampang regency.
The project worth US$200 million is managed by BATAN and the Korean Electric Power Company. Covertly, they conducted desalination studies, breaking up elements of seawater into electricity, clean water and salt.
At a glimpse, the plant seems to be a short-term solution to the shortage of water and electricity in Madura.
Data from the East Java branch of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) reveals that only 10 percent to 40 percent of the demand for electricity and clean water in Madura is met annually.
In 2015, the demand for electricity would increase to 200 Megawatts, which could then be met fully by the planned PLTN.