Indonesia building 10GW nuclear power visits Doosan Enerbility Changwon plant

A delegation from Indonesia's National Energy Council (DEN), which oversees the country's energy policy, visited Doosan Enerbility's Changwon plant to inspect its nuclear power manufacturing capabilities. As Indonesia pushes to introduce 10 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear power by 2040 and begins searching for partners in earnest, expectations are also growing for Korean nuclear companies to enter the Southeast Asian market.

According to Listrik Indonesia, an Indonesian energy media outlet, on Nov. 8, a delegation led by Satya Widya Yudha, DEN commissioner for industry, visited Doosan Enerbility's Changwon integrated production base on Nov. 5 to discuss nuclear technology cooperation. The delegation included Unggul Priyanto, commissioner for technology, Nanang Kristanto, secretariat coordinator, and an economic official from the Indonesian Embassy in Korea.

The delegation toured the entire process of manufacturing nuclear power main equipment at the Changwon plant, which sits on a site of about 4.429 million square meters. They directly inspected the manufacturing process of major components for the APR1400, Korea's next-generation nuclear reactor, including the reactor vessel, steam generator, and reactor coolant pump (RCP). Doosan Enerbility also introduced its technology across the entire nuclear power life cycle, including pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) technology, spent nuclear fuel storage cask manufacturing, and nuclear decommissioning and maintenance services.

Commissioner Satya Widya Yudha said, "Nuclear power is the most realistic and only solution to global warming and fine dust problems," adding, "Doosan has excellent preparation and capability to supply the world's safest and most reliable nuclear power plants."

The visit carries added significance as it comes at a time when Indonesia is concretizing its national nuclear power adoption plan. The Indonesian government has set a plan to use nuclear power as a major energy source to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 and secure 10GW of nuclear power capacity by 2040.

To this end, it is going through related procedures with the goal of operating its first commercial nuclear power plant of 500 megawatts (MW) between 2032 and 2034. In particular, given the geographical characteristics of the country consisting of numerous islands, it is also actively considering the introduction of small modular reactors (SMRs).

As the project is large in scale, competition among global nuclear power companies is intensifying. Russia's state-owned Rosatom has proposed building a floating nuclear power plant, while major companies from the United States, China, and France are reportedly contacting Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund and seeking opportunities to participate. The Indonesian government plans to select partners by comprehensively evaluating technology safety and financial support conditions, in line with its diplomatic stance of not leaning toward any particular country.

Doosan Enerbility has supplied about 680 power generation units totaling 200GW to more than 30 countries worldwide. In Indonesia, it has also built cooperative relations with power authorities by participating in projects such as the eco-friendly conversion of the Jawa 9 and 10 coal-fired power plants.

As Indonesia, the largest power market in Southeast Asia, begins the full-fledged process of introducing nuclear power, opportunities for Korean nuclear companies to enter the market are also becoming more concrete.

※ This article is an AI translation of the Korean original published by Korea Credit News; it was checked by automated quality guards and published by the English edition desk.