REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MAMUJU - The National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN) said Australia and France have indicated interest in the Mamuju uranium deposit in West Sulawesi. The two countries have approached BATAN since it was known that Mamuju has uranium deposit, BATAN chief Prof Dr Djarot Sulistio Wisnubroto said  on Thursday.

In fact many countries were interested in the country's uranium deposits but the Indonesian law banned exploitation of the country's uranium deposits, Wisnubroto added. The government did not want to develop the deposit for commercial purpose but to keep it for domestic use in the future, he said.

"The Mamuju uranium deposit would not be made as commercial commodity but it would be used for the national development," he said.

Uranium would be developed for economic development such as in farming, animal husbandry and fishery, he added.

"Cooperation with the West Sulawesi administration is to utilize the Mamuju uranium for the national development to increase farm, animal husbandry and fishery production," he said.

Wisnubroto said the people of West Sulawesi did not have to worry about possible radiation as long as the uranium was handled properly. 

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