NPC wants to regain control of BNPP village
State-run National Power Corporation (NPC) is propping up to regain its control over the ‘eco-reservation village’ attached to the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) which has been previously transferred to the management of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation.
Tossing back the BNPP village into the reigns of NPC was a proposal from former Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco, a staunch advocate of having the nuclear facility re-powered so it can augment the country’s electricity needs.
The former lawmaker has propounded that “the nuclear village in Bagac should be removed from PSALM and be made a part of BNPP being cared for by the Department of Finance and Napocor.”
He stressed that “government retention of the nuclear village under Napocor and DoF is vital once the BNPP is either rehabilitated or a new nuclear generating unit is installed inside the Bataan reservation area.”
The Nuclear Village is currently being utilized by NPC and other industry stakeholders “for training and seminars in relation to its remaining mandates under the EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act).”
Cojuangco further opined that the Bagac-based nuclear village “should not be dismembered from BNPP, as well as other attached assets such as the West Nuk and other bio-monitoring lab.”
In his earlier assessment, if the Bataan nuclear power facility will be brought back to operation, this will help bring down electricity costs for the Filipino consumers.
So far, Cojuangco has already gotten the nod of the NPC Board “on the preservation of the whole BNPP facilities.”
That was when he attended their recent Board meeting, wherein he was asked as a resource person to shed light on “why the BNPP should be preserved as a useful asset and as part of the country’s patrimony.”
He has been batting for BNPP’s return to operation several years already. But under the Aquino regime, the re-powering of the BNPP was technically given its ‘death sentence’.
The stand of this administration is to only opt for nuclear as an energy source alternative if the facilities are ‘new builds.’