Nuke not welcome in Palawan

By Clarinda I. Catimpo
The Palawan Times

 CLOSE ON the heels of the revelation that Palawan “is a possible site for a nuclear power plant to generate cheaper electricity” comes the reaction of Governor Abraham Kahlil B. Mitra that nuke is not welcome in the province that is dubbed as the country’s last ecological frontier. This after the Senate has insisted earlier that a nuclear power plant is in the Philippine’s future. The promotion of alternative energy, including nuclear power, is one means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile said during a Senate finance committee hearing recently. Enrile suggested that the national government is welcome to use Luzon’s northeastern quadrant as a site for a nuclear power plant well away from population centers because it never experienced major earthquakes. He suggested that the national government consider the Balabac island chain as a site for the nuclear power plant. But Mitra reckoned that renewable energy such as solar and wind should be a smarter choice in the long run. “There are other provinces where they can set that [nuclear power plant] up. We prefer clean and renewable energy,” Mitra told Palawan Times in an interview. He added that renewable energy is currently the provincial government’s priority, and nuclear comes last. “Renewables are getting cheaper so why do you want to go for nuclear? It is not cost effective,” Mitra said. Apparently, foreign nuclear equipment suppliers have expressed their willingness to invest in the country’s nuclear power industry, National Power Corp. spokesman Dennis Gana said in an interview with reporters. He said the US, Japan, Korea, Russia, and France have already showed interest in the Philippines’ nuclear power industry as “we are the only country in the region [that] has not gone [into] nuclear energy.” Another industry official shared the same sentiment with Gana, saying that most foreign companies capable of providing nuclear power facilities are interested to come into the country. “However, most of them are just monitoring the development of our nuclear policy, but there are some who are more proactive,” the source, who refused to be named, told reporters. Napocor, together with the Energy Department and other government agencies, takes the lead in studying nuclear power development options for the Philippines. The government has received numerous proposals from the foreign community to study the possibility of rehabilitating the mothballed 600-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). Other companies expressed willingness to provide assistance to the government in coming up with its nuclear power development program. One of them was US-based Excel Services Corp. who provides regulatory and engineering services to the nuclear industry, nuclear regulators, and federal agencies in the US and other countries. Toshiba Corp., one of Japan’s biggest supplier of nuclear reactors, has also expressed interest to help the Philippines re-power the BNPP. Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) also expressed interest in reviving the BNPP. It already conducted a study on the country’s mothballed nuclear facility. Kansai Electric Power Corp. and Tokyo Electric Power Corp., on the other hand, wants to provide technical assistance to the Philippine government for its nuclear power program. At the moment, the cost of power in Palawan is reportedly more than P9 per kilowatt hour. Earlier, Energy Secretary Jose Almendras reported that most of the Asian countries have already built nuclear power plants. Had the Philippines pushed through with the operation of the nuclear power plant in Bataan in 1976, the power rate in our country today would only have been P1.89 per kilowatt hour, he said. Right now, South Korea gets 42 percent of its power from nuclear plants. The same is true, too, with Indonesia and Thailand, which get 20 percent each of their power supply from nuclear sources. Nuclear waste cannot be treated technologically, thus the fear on its ill effects on the environment.