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One of the bitterest jokes in Philippine development history is the
massive corruption behind the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
(BNPP). It supplanted in the public’s mind all other productive
adventures in the country’s use of nuclear technology.
Yet the exploration of the atom’s beneficial
uses could have produced tremendous gains, as the country was among
Asia’s first to adopt this policy. The Philippine nuclear program
started in 1958 with the creation of the Philippine Atomic Energy
Commission (PAEC) under Republic Act 2067. This week, the Philippine
Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI, as PAEC was renamed) is
celebrating its 50th anniversary.
With PAEC’s founding, the Philippines obtained
a small nuclear reactor that became its nuclear facility and the
primary training reactor for Asia’s nuclear scientists under a
project between India, Philippines, and the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA). It produced radioisotopes used for
agricultural, health, medical, industrial and research applications,
and for nuclear training.
The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant tainted the
Filipinos’ understanding of beneficial nuclear technology. Built
on a 3.57-square kilometer government reservation at Napot Point in
Morong, Bataan, this Westing-house pressurized light water reactor
was designed to produce 621 megawatts of electricity. Mercifully, it
was the Philippines’ only serious attempt at building a nuclear
power plant.
In July 1973, under martial law and responding
to the 1973 oil crisis, then strongman Ferdinand Marcos announced
the plan to build BNPP. Like other oil-importing countries, the
Middle East oil embargo put a heavy strain on the Philippine
economy. Marcos asserted nuclear power would help meet energy
demands and decrease dependence on imported oil.
Construction on the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
began in 1976 and was completed in 1984 at a cost of $2.3 billion,
bloated from only $500 million, allegedly to accommodate pay-offs to
the Marcoses and their cronies, notably Herminio Disini who brokered
the deal with Westinghouse. With his loot, Disini reportedly bought
for himself a European peerage and is now a certified count.
Following the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in
the United States, construction on the BNPP was stopped, and a
subsequent safety inquiry into the plant revealed over 4,000
defects. It was built near major earthquake fault lines and close to
the then dormant Pinatubo volcano that erupted after more than 600
years in 1990.
After Marcos was overthrown in 1986, and days
after the April 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the succeeding Aquino
administration decided not to operate the plant.
The government sued Westing-house for
overpricing and bribery, but its arguments were ultimately rejected
by a United States court. Because of this, the country was forced to
pay as much as $170,000 a day to service debts incurred for the
plant. The Philippine government fully paid its BNPP-related
obligations in April 2007, more than 30 years after construction
began.
The full payment was made two years ahead of
schedule, presumably because the Arroyo government now wants to use
the plant for energy generation as it is supposedly more
environmentally friendly. Unlike oil-fired plants, a nuclear-powered
plant does not use fossil fuels, nor emit greenhouse gases.
In January, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes
announced that an IAEA team had inspected the mothballed BNPP prior
to its rehabilitation, upon request from the Arroyo government. IAEA
made two primary recommendations.
First, the power plant’s status must be
thoroughly evaluated by technical inspections and economic
evaluations conducted by a committed group of nuclear power experts
with experience in preservation management.
Second, the IAEA mission advised the government
to comply with general requirements in starting a nuclear power
program, stressing that it should first implement proper
infrastructure and safety standards and promote proper knowledge and
understanding.
The IAEA’s role did not extend to assessing
whether the power plant is usable or not, or how much the plant may
cost to rehabilitate.
Several such proposals had been presented
beforehand to the Philippine government to convert the plant into an
oil, coal, or gas-fired power station. All were deemed economically
unattractive compared to the construction of new power stations.
To date, renewable energy enthusiasts and
environmentalists are rattling their sabers to communicate to
government that they will not welcome plans to operate BNPP.
Never having been commissioned, BNPP remains
intact, although its maintenance continues. As it is not
operational, the country is not yet bleeding dollars and pesos for
imported nuclear rods and a full complement of nuclear specialists,
engineers and maintenance personnel, amont others.
It also does not endure any threat from
terrorists who might commandeer the plant for their purposes, nor
worry over any natural disaster wreaking havoc on it.
However, the continuing saga of the unused BNPP
is not the totality of the country’s adventures in the use of
nuclear technology, asserted Science and Technology Sec. Estrella
Alabastro during last week’s Ministerial Meeting during the 9th
Forum in Nuclear Cooperation in Asia.
Who says Philippines has no nuclear future
without the BNPP?
mlatimes@gmail.com
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