Revival of mothballed nuclear plant gets support of Senator

Policies on nuclear energy being discussed by legislators

Efforts to revive the country’s first nuclear reactor was given a boost with a Senator supporting moves to revive the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant ( BNPP).

Senator Joseph Victor ‘ JV’ Ejercito said resurrecting the BNPP would not only solve Luzon’s perennial energy shortfall and high cost of energy, but likewise pole vault the country on the road to continued development.

Ejercito said that among the limitations of the Philippine economy, aside from inadequate infrastructure, “is the high cost of energy.”

The cost of energy in the Philippines is among the highest in Southeast Asia, limiting the country’s potential for fast- er and further growth.

The BNPP was constructed during the administration of the late Ferdinand Marcos during the early 1980s. The country’s first ever nuclear plant, while finished, was never able to produce a single kilowatt of electrical power after a new administration under Corazon Aquino took over and questioned its safety.

Supposed experts at that time said the location of the BNPP could make it prone to a nuclear disaster.

But present expert, Renato Solidum of the Philippines In- stitute of Volcanology and Seismology was quoted in reports as saying that there is nothing to fear from a possible nuclear catastrophe in Bataan since BNPP’s location is far from an earthquake fault.

The Philippines had steered clear of any plans to revive the BNPP and had virtually adopted a nuclear free stance since the mid- 1980s. However, under President Rodrigo Duterte, the new administration had taken on a new thinking on nuclear power.

Last November, the Philippines and Russia signed an agreement that may revive Manila’s long mothballed plans to generate power from nuclear energy.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the Philippines’ Department of Energy had signed last November a memorandum of cooperation with the Russian Federation State Atomic Energy Corporation ( Rosatom) peaceful applications of nuclear energy.

Aside from this, Philippine

Last November, the Philippines and Russia signed an agreement that may yet revive Manila’s long mothballed plans to generate power from nuclear energy.