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The Slovakian “Inspirasi” for Indonesian Nuclear Power: The “Success” of a Permanently Failing Organization
- Asian Perspective
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 39, Number 4, October-December 2015
- pp. 667-694
- 10.1353/apr.2015.0029
- Article
- Additional Information
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Abstract:
The Indonesian national nuclear power agency (BATAN) is a classic example of a permanently failing organization that survives due to external support and frequent announcements of imminent construction of a nuclear power plant (NPP). Between 2009 and 2013 BATAN claimed the Slovakian nuclear power industry as its mentoring partner and inspiration in building an NPP in Bangka-Belitung. BATAN failed to mention the scandal-ridden state of the now foreign-owned Slovakian nuclear industry, its catastrophic past, and its nonexistent construction capacity. The Slovakia/Bangka campaign, baseless though it was in reality, functioned as a kind of informational fog of fantasy that deflected attention from domestic critics of an Indonesian nuclear program.