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DTNTF and Thorcon Power Indonesia Cooperation on High Level Safety Assessment TMSR-500 Safety Design

Berita Kamis, 9 Juni 2022

On Monday, June 6, 2022, a collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering UGM and Thorcon Power Indonesia was signed with the main objective of conducting a High Level Safety Assessment (HLSA) study or the High Level Safety Assessment of the TMSR-500 Thorium Power Plant (PLTT). This reactor is a type of power reactor with thorium fuel, the type of Molten Salt Reactor, and a power of 500 MW. In this signing activity, the FT UGM was represented by Prof. Dr. Ir. Selo, S.T., M.T., M. Sc., Ph.D. as the Dean of the UGM Faculty of Engineering together with Bob S. Effendi as the Operations Director of PT ThorCon Power Indonesia.

With its competence in the field of nuclear safety, the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics (DTNTF) together with a Spanish engineering consulting company appointed by Thorcon, namely Empresarios Agrupados Internacional (EAI) will conduct an HLSA study, especially covering aspects of volcanoes and forest fires and haze. The final results of this HLSA study include an executive summary which will be consulted with the Nuclear Energy Supervisory Agency (BAPETEN) to be submitted to policy makers. It is hoped that with this HLSA study, the government will obtain a comprehensive overview of the TMSR safety analysis and issue the necessary policies to realize the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Indonesia.

In his remarks, the Dean of FT UGM welcomed the close collaboration between Thorcon and FT UGM and appreciated the Nuclear Engineering lecturers who had initiated this activity for a long time. In addition, the Dean of FT UGM also offered Thorcon to fill one corner of the Smart and Green Learning Center (SGLC) building with Thorcon Corner. It is hoped that with this Thorcon Corner, students are inspired and get to know the realities of the industry they are going to work in.

In this event, Thorcon also submitted a mockup of the TMSR-500 which was then placed in DTNTF and welcomed the offer to establish Thorcon Corner.

Bob S. Effendi in his speech said that from the beginning DTNTF had been collaborating with the development of nuclear power plants in Indonesia by conducting discussions on the use of thorium, so it was called the Thorium Working Group which had been started since 2014. The DTNTF lecturers involved were Dr. Yudi Utomo Imardjoko, Dr.-Ing. Kusnanto, and Dr. Andang Widi Harto. In addition, Bob S. Effendi also said that Thorcon is confident to be the energy provider to support the achievement of Net Zero Emission (NZE) in 2060.

Paper Review: Developing Nuclear Security Capacity of Indonesia’s Police and Security Officer: Lessons from Universitas Gadjah Mada’s Pilot Training

Berita Senin, 25 April 2022

Ir. Susetyo Hario Putero, M.Eng. and UGM’s Nuclear Engineering Program team successfully disseminated their nuclear security pilot training program at the International Journal of Nuclear Security with the title “Developing Nuclear Security Capacity of Indonesia’s Police and Security Officer: Lessons from Universitas Gadjah Mada’s Pilot Training,” published in 2022.

Nuclear security issues such as terrorism and radioactive source theft continue to be a concern in Indonesia. For example, in early 2020, an orphan radioactive source was discovered from the theft of used radioactive sources. According to International Atomic Energy Agency’s Incident and Trafficking Database, most thefts reported involved used radioactive sources in industrial or medical applications. According to data provided by the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency of Indonesia (BAPETEN), there are 13294 licenses released for using ionizing radiation sources spread across 3695 industrial and medical facilities. However, the radiation sources in these facilities are not protected appropriately due to the lack of nuclear security knowledge in Indonesian police and security forces. This lack of nuclear security knowledge makes a training program necessary to help police and security forces secure civilian facilities that utilize radioactive sources.

 

The paper shares the Nuclear Engineering Program’s experience while conducting the pilot three-day training for local police and UGM’s security officers in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY). The lessons were divided into 12 sessions, shown in Table 1. Sessions 1,2, and 3 were intended to briefly explain the foundation of nuclear technology, and the rest provided the basic skills of nuclear security.

The study comprised 16 police officers and four UGM officers, and the security training was conducted on September 3-5, 2018. The police officers came from medical, forensic, special corps, and criminal investigation divisions. The nuclear security training was a new experience for most of the officers. Trainees looked excited when they learned how to use a Personal Radiation Detector (PRD), a Radionuclide Identification Detector (RID), and a survey meter. The trainees practiced finding hidden radioactive sources in an exercise, as shown in Figure-1. The trainees were also asked to build physical protection in a hypothetical radioactive unit from the perspective of an attack ground and a security group.

 

Figure-1. A trainee exercises finding hidden radiation sources using PRD, RID, and a survey meter.

Pre-tests and post-tests were conducted to analyze trainee knowledge of the materials before and after the training. Based on these tests, the team concluded that the trainees’ knowledge of nuclear security has improved. Further training with a larger number of participants will be beneficial to further improve awareness of nuclear security measures across Indonesia.

For more Information and collaboration, please contact:

Ir. Susetyo Hario Putero, M.Eng.

Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics, Universitas Gadjah Mada

Jl. Grafika No.2, Sinduadi, Mlati, Sleman, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, 55281

Indonesia

email: susetyo@ugm.ac.id

 

Reference

Putero, Susetyo Hario Mr; Mondjo; Agus Budhie Wijatna; Sihana; Andang Widiharto; Nunung
Prabaningrum; Anung Muharini; Widya Rosita; Ester Wijayanti; Alexander Agung; Haryono Budi Santosa;
Kusnanto; Yudi Utomo Imardjoko; Faridah; and Ferdiansjah (2022) “Developing Nuclear Security Capacity
of Indonesia’s Police and Security Officer: Lessons from Universitas Gadjah Mada’s Pilot Training,”
International Journal of Nuclear Security: Vol. 7: No. 1, Article 13.
Available at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/ijns/vol7/iss1/13