There are several things that cause an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, including the use of fossil fuels. Therefore, an energy transition to renewable energy is needed. One of the most efficient sources when compared to other renewable energy sources is nuclear energy. The situation faced by humans today inspired Priscilla Tiffany, a student of the Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia (FTUI), to develop nuclear as a primary energy source. This student of 2021 class put her idea in a paper entitled “Youth for Nuclear Energy (YNE): Technology Utilization for Education towards the 2050 Nuclear Energy Implementation Target”. She said, “From the existing environmental problems and the lack of public interest in nuclear, I initiated an application called Maja. Maja is derived from the word “remaja” (teenager). This application was developed with the target of Indonesian teenagers as its users,” said Priscilla.
She continued, Maja app can also stand for “mainin aja” (just play it), which describes the concept of being interesting and entertaining although its main purpose is to provide education and promotion. She then explained the five main features of Maja. The first feature is Artificial Intelligence (AI), where nuclear energy information is delivered in the form of quizzes, and users can use voice or speech recognition to answer the questions. In addition to providing questions and answer keys, Maja AI also provides explanations regarding the answer keys given, so the users get new information related to nuclear energy. The second feature is the game. In this feature, the users are invited to play a nuclear reactor simulation game at Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) so that the users can feel personal experience and actively participate in providing education related to the implementation of nuclear energy which is assembled in the gamification method.
This game feature is also an educational tool to show that as long as the settings on the nuclear reactor are done properly, there will be no reactor explosion as worriedly expected. In this game, the users are invited to understand and simulate the procedure for disposing of waste from nuclear reactors, so the wrong stigma about radioactive waste can be slowly eliminated.
The third feature is articles, which allows users to dig up the necessary information about nuclear energy themselves. In this feature, the users also get information about the latest news related to the development of nuclear energy.
The users can discuss with fellow Maja users in the fourth feature. Thus, various points of view are obtained and fellow young Indonesians can educate and correct each other if there is an incorrect stigma related to nuclear energy. This feature can also be used directly without having to read the article first.
The fifth feature is community. The idea of creating Maja is based on the hope that Maja can be an educational and promotional tool that reaches all Indonesian youth. Therefore, the idea of Youth for Nuclear Energy (YNE) was also born, which is a community of young people who have an interest in nuclear energy. Through this community, Indonesian youth can discuss and convey their innovative ideas for the development of nuclear energy in Indonesia.
Priscilla Tiffany’s idea led her to win the third place in the Paper Competition of National Nuclear Festival 2021 held by Universitas Bangka Belitung and PT ThorCon Power Indonesia.
The Dean of FTUI Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, ST, M.Eng, IPU welcomed the idea of Maja application. “The utilization of nuclear energy is carried out by considering the security of national energy supply on a large scale, reducing carbon emissions, still prioritizing the potential of new and renewable energy according to its economic value, and considering nuclear energy as a last resort by strictly observing safety factors.”
He hopes that Maja can be a socialization program to Indonesian people about the benefits of nuclear energy in various fields. The implementation of nuclear as an energy source, especially as a power plant, is still reaping the pros and cons. Hence, it has hindered the development of Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) in Indonesia.
The younger generation can play a role in NPP development efforts, one of which is by educating the public. YNE targets Indonesia’s young generation because in the future they play a role in meeting the target of nuclear energy implementation in 2050.
