History of Batan

Nuclear activities in Indonesia began with the establishment of the State Committee for the Investigation of Radioactivity in 1954, which was assigned to investigate the possibility of radioactive fall-out in Indonesia territory due to nuclea rweapon test in the Pacific Ocean.

Noting that the development and application of atomic energy could enhance the welfare of the people, the Government issued Government Regulation No. 65 on December 5, 1958 establishing the Atomic Energy Council and the Atomic Energy Institute. Thiswaslater followed by the enactment of Act No. 31 year 1964 regarding the Basic Stipulations on Atomic Energy and Government Regulation No. 33 year 1965 which also renamed the Atomic Energy Institute into the National Atomic Energy Agency (Badan Tenaga Atom Nasional or BATAN). However, the 5th of December has been retained as the date of anniversary of BATAN.

In 1965, the operation of the first research reactor (Triga Mark II) was inaugurated in Bandung. In order to improve mastery of nuclear science and technology, several research & development and engineering facilities were built, among others are the Nuclear Technology Research Centre of Pasar Jumat, Jakarta in 1966, and the Nuclear Technology Research Centre of GAMA, Yogyakarta in 1967, where the Kartini research reactor was then built in 1979. To further support the nuclear energy programme, research & development and engineering facilities, the 30 MW Multipurpose Research Reactor was inaugurated in 1987. It's supporting laboratories including facilities for fuel fabrication of research and power reactors, reactor safety testing, production of radioisotope and radiopharmaceutical, management of radioactive wastes and other nuclear facilities have been built in the PUSPIPTEK science and technology research complex in Serpong.

Further development saw the enactment of Act No. 10 in 1997 on Nuclear Energy, which stipulated among others the separation of the executing function on the beneficial applications of nuclear energy (BATAN), from the regulatory function held by the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (BAPETEN).

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