Toshiba eyes Bataan nuclear power plant

Toshiba Corp. of Japan is keen on reviving the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

Froilan Tampinco, National Power Corp. (Napocor) president, said that the Japanese firm has expressed interest in rehabilitating the Bataan plant since Toshiba already controls Westinghouse Electric Co., the company that constructed the 630-megawatt nuclear plant.

“They’re saying they took over Westinghouse technology so they can look into the Bataan nuclear power plant,” he added.

Toshiba is one of Japan’s biggest suppliers of nuclear reactors and consumer electronic goods in the world. It acquired majority control of Westinghouse in 2006 for $5.4 billion.

Besides its interest in the Bataan plant, Tampinco said that Toshiba was open to helping the country develop its nuclear power program.

Some of the nuclear plants constructed by Toshiba have been supplying power to the Tokyo Electric Power Co. since 1996 without a hitch.

Stable power supply

Westinghouse was originally contracted to build the Bataan nuclear plant as a two-reactor plant for $600,000. But only a single reactor plant was built for $2.3 billion, not including debt service. The plant has not produced a single watt of electricity in its lifetime.

The nuclear plant was supposed to operate commercially in the 1980s, but it was mothballed because of strong opposition from various environmental and cause-oriented groups.

As a result, the country’s nuclear power development stagnated with majority of trained government
nuclear personnel leaving for other countries or having their skills deteriorating over time.

Ironically, the Bataan plant, which was supposed to answer for a projected supply shortage when it was constructed, is now being looked upon by Napocor to help secure the country’s unstable power supply.

Compared with other conventional power plants, nuclear power facilities produce cheap electricity and a stable supply because of the longer time it takes to deplete its fuel. The Nuclear Energy Institute said that a single uranium fuel pellet the size of a fingertip contains as much energy as 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas, 1,780 pounds of coal, or 566 liters of oil.

Tampinco said that while Malacañang has yet to issue marching orders on tapping nuclear power, “options have been discussed.”

“If we get a clear indication on what the present leadership is going to adopt as a policy then we will go ahead. In the meantime, we are doing all the preparations already as we are sending people to be trained [in nuclear power] though not massive,” he added.

The Napocor chief said that lawmakers would have to look into the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 if Napocor could put up a nuclear power plant, because the law mandates the privatization of its assets and restricts it from putting up new generating capacities in the country’s three main grid systems. –EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO REPORTER, Manila Times