Member of the National Energy Board (DEN), Herman Darnel Ibrahim, said the national energy policy has not been fully enjoyed by the whole society. Fuel and electricity subsidy amounting to 261 trillion rupiah in 2011 -165 trillion for fuel and 96 trillion for electricity – was only enjoyed by some people. In fact, only 65 percent of people who can enjoy the power supply provided to each home. "Energy has not prospered the people. So, the one who has not got the electricity, has not got the subsidies, either," said Darnel in the international workshop on nuclear energy and reactors safety, which took place at the UGM Faculty of Engineering on Monday (30/1). Therefore, Darnel urged the government to provide electricity to the whole society. "Until 2020, all residents can get electrical energy," he said.
Related with the government plan to reduce the amount of subsidy by converting oil to gas, he said it was not an easy job and difficult to be realized because the government must prepare for the continuation of gas supply, retribution, and changes in vehicle engines. Meanwhile, the suggestion of Pertamax fuel usage, according to Darnel, is also not the right solution. "If enforced, then there will be high demand of Pertamax and not necessarily all of them could be met by Pertamina, which could create chaos," he added.
To suppress the amount of subsidy, the government needs to reduce the sales of fuel, coal and gas abroad. Although export earnings reached up to 272 trillion, all income is also used to make subsidy. "We export a lot with a lot of production, while the earnings are used for subsidies," he said.
Darnel mentioned the fuel consumption that reached 1.2 million barrels per day has not been fully met, so they import about 500 thousand barrels per day to cover this. "What needs to be done is to change the paradigm of energy policy. Our energy should not be sold, but used for capital development. Energy efficiency strategies, we maximize our renewable energy," he said.
In his presentation, Dr. Soeren Kliem, Head of the Reactor Safety Division, HZDR, Germany, said the use of nuclear power in the European Union is the policy of each country to overcome the energy problem respectively. Not all EU countries choose nuclear energy. "There is no agreement from the European Union to build nuclear energy," he said.
Kliem said some countries that have nuclear power plants, among others, was the French that now has 58 nuclear plants, Finland, Britain, Germany, and Russia. "In Holland, there is one operating and one is still in the planning, while in Italy, none of which operates after some resistance from the people through referendum," he said.
Kliem also recognizes the impact of Fukushima reactor leakage some time ago has more or less impacted on nuclear energy policy in many countries, from the addition of reactor safety level technology to the review of new reactor construction plans.