Site suitability-based spatial-weighted multicriteria analysis for nuclear power plants in Indonesia

Abstract

Nuclear energy is a choice to meet the electricity needs of West Kalimantan, Indonesia to support new industrial areas. Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) require an appropriate location in terms of biogeophysical, socio-economic, and disaster considerations. This study aims to determine potential sites for NPPs using spatial-weighted multicriteria analysis. GIS and analytical hierarchical processes (AHP) were combined to produce suitable NPPs site. This study showed that West Kalimantan has a very high suitability area covering 16,321.66 Km2 (25.81 %) for NPPs. The NPPs are proposed to operate with water reactor coolants, thereby prioritizing areas of about five kilometres from the shoreline. We discovered twelve sites, but only two suitable priority sites for NPPs were found in Ketapang after overlapping with national/regional planning and the existing state. These sites will not significantly impact the environment, socio-economic, and policies, also will support electricity for the new capital region for Indonesia.

Keywords

• AHP
• GIS
• Nuclear power plants
• Suitable locations
• West Kalimantan