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IF the
visiting international nuclear energy experts give a
thumbs up to the feasibility of the mothballed Bataan
Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), it will take the government
much less time—only less than five years—to reopen the
nuclear energy plant, a Filipino nuclear expert said
Tuesday.
“I will feel bad if it will take five
years [to reopen the nuclear power plant]. It should
take a fewer number of years,” Carlito Aleta, a former
coordinator of the Regional Cooperation Agreement of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and director
of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI),
told the BusinessMirror.
Experts from the IAEA will check the
BNPP in late January to see if it can still be
rehabilitated for use.
New nuclear power plants needs 10 to 15
years to construct.
Aleta said that if the IAEA team will
give the go-ahead to BNPP’s rehabilitation, the
government would save time looking for a site for a new
nuclear power plant, and also save money. He, however,
could not say how much. A 1,000-MW nuclear plant costs
$1.5 billion to $2 billion.
But he is optimistic the power plant
will still be used after it was closed down in 1986 for
“political reasons” owing to strong public opposition
citing safety concerns, such as an earthquake fault and
volcanoes nearby.
Experts, such as University of the
Philippines
geologist Dr. Carlo Arcilla, however, said at the Atomic
Energy Week led by the PNRI that the BNPP does not sit
on an earthquake fault, and it was not affected by the
strong eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991.
Aleta said in a speech Tuesday at the
Atomic Energy Week celebration that if existing nuclear
power plants can operate for 40 years, the BNPP, which
was not used and which is only more than 20 years old
(it was constructed in the early 1980s) may still be
used.
The
Philippine government, early this year, decided to
review its policy on nuclear power so the country could
contribute mitigating the emission of greenhouse gases
from fossil fuels, and to meet the country’s increasing
energy demand while reducing power costs.
Aleta said there is a “renaissance” in
nuclear energy and a changing attitude toward nuclear
power which now sees the operation of 439 nuclear
reactors worldwide. He traced this to its demonstrated
safe operations, long service (40 years), responsible
management of nuclear waste and competitive costs in the
long run.
He cited Sweden, which voted to phase
out its 12 nuclear power plants in 2010, but later
agreed not to phase out its nuclear plants after it
decided to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The
Swedes even agreed to accept waste storage in their
neighborhood if it is proved to be a good site for it.
He added that Indonesia, an
oil-producing country, is banking on its first nuclear
power plant by 2015. Vietnam is planning for its first
nuclear plant, while
Thailand
is revisiting its nuclear option. |
