Nuclear energy an option, says Reyes

MANILA, Philippines – Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes admitted that tapping nuclear energy as a possible source of power is an option that the Department of Energy (DOE) wants to take.

Reyes, however, said, “Let’s not get into nuclear power until we are dead sure that we are ready. And we are ready if we have stakeholder support.”

“We don’t want a situation where we put up another nuclear power plant,” Reyes told reporters at the Manila Overseas Press Club Energy Night at InterContinental Hotel on Wednesday.

“The most expensive nuclear power plant is one that you set up but is not operational. We don’t want another one like that, thus if the country is not ready then it should not proceed with it,” he added, referring to the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant that was built and then eventually mothballed.

“We are keeping the nuclear power as an option. But right now, we are not ready for it because we need the human, regulatory, physically and financial infrastructure, which we don’t have and we have to set up,” he said.

“We also need stakeholder support. We have to work on this (nuclear) and it’s a slow process. But we have to get there eventually,” he added.

Although Reyes admitted that there are disadvantages in dealing with nuclear energy, he said there are also benefits from using it.

“Nuclear power has its inherent dangers which the whole world is trying to solve, but there are advantages as well. And among the advantages is that nuclear power is baseload and will remain stable for as long as 50 years. It provides you steady and cheap power in the long run; it is expensive initially,” he said.

This is one source of power, he said, that the country’s industries need. “If we have expensive power, there are industries, which are export-oriented and energy-intensive, which cannot compete with the international market,” he said.

Reyes assured the public that the government’s objective in eyeing nuclear energy as an alternative power source is to have stable supply of electricity.

“There is no option that has no cost. If you want an option that has no cost, you will not find one,” he said.

The Philippine government is planning to start up its first 600-megawatt nuclear power plant by 2025, based on DOE data. –Donnabelle Gatdula, Philippine Star