No problem seen in Indonesia atomic plans: ElBaradei http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-12-08T112307Z_01_JAK311888_RTRUKOC_0_US-INDONESIA-NUCLEAR-ELBARADEI.xml&WTmodLoc=IntNewsHome_C2_worldNews-2
Fri Dec 8, 2006
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia should not face any problem in its plan to develop civilian nuclear energy because it has met its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Friday.
As part of efforts to diversify its energy sources, Indonesia is planning to build nuclear plant power plants on the Muria Peninsula on the northern coast of Central Java province.
"I don't see that there would be any political impediment to Indonesia acquiring the technology needed for nuclear power," Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said during a question and answer session after a lecture at the Indonesian ministry of research and technology.
ElBaradei said Indonesia's situation was not comparable with Iran, whose atomic program had not been "fully clarified."
Iran denies Western charges that its nuclear program is a cover for an atomic weapons program but was ordered by the Security Council to freeze uranium enrichment for failing to convince the world that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.
The IAEA and the government had completed an assessment of Indonesia's nuclear energy options in 2004, ElBaradei said, adding that his agency was supporting Indonesia's preparation for its first 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant.
Indonesia has talked with countries such as South Korea and Australia over possibilities of helping the vast Southeast Asian nation with the technology needed for nuclear power.
ElBaradei was due to meet Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono later on Friday.
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