SPECIAL REPORT Studying the nuclear option for long-term solution

With the country suffering one of its longest stretches of power shortage since the 1990s, various quarters are pointing to nuclear power as a possible solution not only to make future electricity supply stable and secure but also to lower consumers’ electricity bills.

“It’s about time really we start looking at nuclear and start the debate on nuclear energy—look at the safety aspect, we should start debating on that, the economic aspects. But let’s set aside the political aspects. Let’s just look at purely the safety and the economic aspects,” said Jesus Alcordo, former National Power Corp. (Napocor) president and Energy Regulatory Commission commissioner.

Nuclear power plants provide relatively cheaper electricity compared with other renewable and conventional sources of power. But the cost of putting up such plants and safety concerns has been a major obstacle for the country.

Recall that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), the country’s lone nuclear facility, was but an exercise in futility after extreme opposition from various environmental and cause-oriented groups led to its mothballing in 1986 even before it could generate a single watt of electricity.

The government spent over $2 billion for the construction of the facility and is setting aside up to now some P40 million a year for its maintenance.

“If the BNPP had operated, we would not have needed to contract independent power producers during the Ramos administration and we could have kept power rates low,” Rep. Mark Cojuangco of Tarlac said.

The lawmaker is currently spearheading efforts to promote acceptance of nuclear power in the country and recently gave the Korean government a letter from President Gloria Arroyo signifying the government’s interest in nuclear facilities being auctioned off in South Korea.

Cojuangco said that there were more than 40 major items, which form parts of two nuclear plants, being sold by the Koreans.

The two facilities have a total power generating capacity of over 2,000 megawatts, or just a few hundred megawatts less than the entire demand in the Visayas and Mindanao combined.

The nuclear facilities could fetch as much as $5 billion and would take from 50 to 60 months to set up. A brand new nuclear plant, on the other hand, would cost anywhere from $8 billion to $10 billion and would take at least 88 months to put up.

Neighbors adopting nuclear technology

Ian McKinley, head of the private consultancy firm for radioactive or other toxic wastes MicKinley Consulting of Switzerland, earlier said that the country should be open to nuclear energy when considering its long-term power supply in the same way as other countries in the region have embraced the technology.

“If you look at your neighbors, they are actively looking at long term planning on how they can assure that energy is available. If you are to compete commercially with your neighbors then I think that you have no choice. And I think that what you should look at are countries like Japan and Korea, they plan their electricity generation until the end of the century,” he said.

In the Southeast Asian region, Malaysia and Vietnam are currently considering nuclear power plants. China, Japan and Korea, on the other hand, are looking at expanding their nuclear portfolio.

State-owned National Power Corp. has already started paving the way for the possible reintroduction of nuclear power in the country by making this one of its main forward thrusts as the power plants it owns are being privatized by the government.

In fact, Napocor has already received proposals from two foreign firms that have expressed interest in putting up nuclear plants in the country.

“Remember that [the Bataan plant] is good for two units,” Cojuangco said, although he did not say whether the facility was also the proposed site of the two foreign nuclear firms. –EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO Reporter, Manila Times