Bet backs nuke power but not from Bataan

COTABATO CITY—A senatorial candidate from power-deficient southern Philippines doesn’t want the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) reopened but proposes that Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao each get a nuclear power facility.

Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza said the power crisis hitting the country was caused mainly by the drought and the breakdown of some power plants and could become a persistent problem in the coming years unless the country tapped other sources of power.

Plaza is running for senator under the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino led by former President Joseph Estrada.

The El Niño phenomenon that comes in cycles of two to 10 years, Plaza said, would continue to dry up reservoirs that provide hydroelectric power to local industries and homes.

“If we go nuclear, we will not experience the same problems again. We will have an abundant energy source, especially if we put up one nuclear power facility on each of the country’s major islands,” Plaza said.

Nuclear technology safer

“To prevent the recurrence of a crippling energy crisis, the government should seriously consider putting up nuclear power plants each for Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao,” he said.

Plaza said the mothballed BNPP shouldn’t be revived since its design was as obsolete “as the 1970’s fashion and trends.”

He said new nuclear reactor technologies offered no possibility of a meltdown, were inexpensive and did not generate weapons-grade byproducts and burned up high-level waste.

“Contrary to old beliefs, nuclear technology is far safer now than it was since it was first developed half a century ago. Today many countries are shifting to nuclear power generation because it is safer, cheaper and considered to be more environment-friendly than coal-fired power plants,” Plaza said. –Norman Bordadora, Philippine Daily Inquirer