Nuclear Security Training: A New Approach for Educating Nuclear Technology in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia has planned to erect Nuclear Power Plant for along time, but the government always postponed the plan due to the presence of anti-nuclear group that decreases the public acceptance. In addition, the public knowledge on nuclear technology is still low, since they only get in the last month before finish their study in high school. The socialization of nuclear technology done by government body could not significantly increase the public acceptance, since the knowledge and confidence on nuclear technology among the government employee is also low. The recent issue regarding to nuclear security give a new opportunity in socializing strategy. Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) as the only one university in Indonesia offering nuclear engineering education had conducted several nuclear security training for specific people who had been not targeted in previous socialization programs. The training done in collaboration with National Nuclear Energy Regulatory Body (BAPETEN) of Indonesia was conducted in Batam, Surabaya and Jakarta. Almost 20 people coming from police department, national coast guard, custom agency, etc attended in the training. Training materials consist of introduction on nuclear technology, introduction on nuclear security, physical protection system, radiation detection, transport security, etc. Pre-test and post-test were done to know their improvement. This was first time for most of participants to get nuclear technology knowledge. Based on the survey their knowledge was significantly improved. They felt that the training was valuable for them to know the benefit and risk of nuclear technology. We believe that it could increase the public participant and acceptance on utilizing nuclear technology in Indonesia.