Koreans back nuke revival

The Korean Electric Power Corp. has recommended the revival of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant after it found the nuclear reactor and steam engine turbines “intact and in good state.”

In a status report to the Energy Department, Kepco said that of the 5,966 equipment it examined, some 413 equipment, including diesel generator, needed to be replaced. The rest only needed to be “overhauled.”

The parts that need replacement were damaged by “corrosion and neglect due to long shutdown” of the plant, according to Kepco, which was tapped by the government to determine if the nuclear power plant can be revived.

“Though the BNPP has been shut down for 25 years, the facilities of the primary system are relatively in good state, some equipment of the secondary system have been corroded by salty air and humidity, and most part of the water supply facilities should be rebuilt,” the Kepco report said.

Congress has allocated P100 million for a study and inspection to be done on the state of the BNPP facility. But Kepco, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the Energy Department, chose to do it for free.

Kepco has already submitted its findings to the Energy Department and that the report was leaning toward the revival of the BNPP, according to Rep. Maria Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay of Zambales. “An impartial report [by Kepco] that did inspection on the status of the plant has been submitted to the DoE and the findings are leaning toward the possibility of reactivating the BNPP. But the government is taking the side of prudence and caution and taking also into consideration all other aspects such as funding for rehabilitation and public social acceptance.”

Magsaysay made the announcement while defending the P665.7-million budget of the Energy Department and to ease the fear of Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez that the Bataan plant may do a Chernobyl, referring to the nuclear plant in Russia.

“There is no basis for comparison between the Chernobyl incident and the BNPP because the BNPP has passed the international safety standards of the Atomic Energy Commission, which the Russians, in the case of Chernobyl, failed to do,” Magsaysay said.

There is also a pending bill in Congress that was filed by Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco allocating P1 billion to rehabilitate the BNPP so it can start commercial operations in 2012 to generate some 630 megawatts of power.

Cojuangco proposed to charge consumers an extra five centavos per kilowatthour to raise the P1- billion requirement. He said the cheap nuclear power would help bring down power rates in Luzon from P4.50 per kWh to P2.50 a kWh.

In its report, Kepco said it formed three teams of experts to inspect the BNPP from Feb. 23 to March 27.

Kepco identified the “foreign project team of Korea” as the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, Korea Plant Service and Engineering and Samchang Co. Ltd. The team was headed by Kori 1 Plant.

The site inspection team, Kepco said, were composed of engineers and specialists in mechanics, nuclear and electric power.

“Therefore, corroded or missing system, equipment will be replaced with new ones, and all the other facility, system, components, equipment, parts will be examined, dismantled partly or wholly and maintenance properly, and all piping systems will be flushed, all systems and equipment will be tested step by step, then the BNPP will be rehabilitated satisfactorily,” Kepco says.  –Christine Herrera, Manila Standard Today