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BAGUIO CITY—Energy
Secretary Angelo Reyes led a two-day planning session
here for a road map on clean energy with representatives
from the clean air and energy sectors.
But
while the thrust of the planning session was in relation
to climate change, Reyes gave a good deal of attention
to the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in a press conference.
The government is revisiting the nuclear power plant for
its potential to generate cheaper power in the light of
rising oil prices, Reyes said, explaining that the
interest for cheaper power sources is to maintain the
country’s industrial competitiveness.
Three
weeks ago an eight-man team from an international
regulatory board for all nuclear plants came to study
the site in preparation for a feasibility study which
Reyes said could take two years. Should the study say
that operating the Bataan nuclear plant will serve as a
feasible alternative source of power, the preparation to
make the project work will entail about seven years of
work.
Reyes
said Korea had built a similar nuclear plant around the
same time the
Bataan nuclear plant was mothballed in 1986, and this has been
operational for the last 20 years; its estimated total
life span is 30 years. While
Korea
was reaping the benefits of its nuclear-energy
investment, Reyes said the Philippines has just finished
off paying the $2.3- billion cost of the plant to
Westinghouse in April of last year without enjoying a
single kilowatt from it.
He
acknowledged that while such a nuclear power plant will
not emit any greenhouse gas, there remains the problem
of disposal of uranium waste. But he quickly added that
newer and better safety standards will be developed over
time.
Reyes
also preferred to cite the case of Korea’s nuclear power
plant, which posed no problem in its operation, to
reverse the fear of a nuclear leak, as in the case of
the
Chernobyl
accident in 1986.
Reyes
also mapped out broad plans for renewable energy in a
20-year program (2010 to 2030), in a bid to determine by
how much yet the country should be dependent on coal and
oil-based energy sources, or a percentage mix of finite
and renewable sources.
According to him, wind, solar, biomass, ocean energy,
hydro and geothermal are areas looked into for
development of renewable energy sources.
He said
that while wind energy is a mature technology in Europe,
there is yet no breakthrough in the Philippines, where
only one wind farm, in Bangui town in Ilocos Norte,
exists, producing 25 MW. The country is also waiting for
the technology for solar energy sourcing to mature,
despite the Laguna-based Philippine Sun Power’s
manufacturing solar panels.
Ocean
energy, which depends on ocean depths temperature and
the movements of waves, is also an option being studied
by a national task force on climate change and energy. |
