Jakarta – Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar has said that nuclear energy is the most expensive of all energy.
"The price range of nuclear energy all over the world is between 7.7 and 13.6 US cents per kilowatts per hour, while the national basic procurement cost of electricity is 7.39 cents," he said when discussing the results of talks with nuclear energy stakeholders.
"Historically, the price of energy nuclear has always been above the national basic procurement cost," he said as reported by kompas.com on Monday.
The government has not decided whether to develop nuclear energy, he said, adding that if the government constructed nuclear plants it could sell the energy at higher prices or provide a subsidy.
Arcandra mentioned claims that nuclear energy was cheaper than conventional energy. "I have not received any data proving that commercially nuclear energy is cheaper. It is only discourse. [Nuclear plants] involve a large amount of money. We cannot base anything on discourse," he added.
He said Indonesia had the technology and human resources to develop nuclear plants. However, he said public acceptance of nuclear plants was also a consideration the government had to take into account. (bbn)