Energy security is vital in achieving the government’s goal of spurring economic
activity to create livelihood and employment for millions of Filipino. However, the threat
of having power shortage is circulating in the Philippines. As the population continually
increases, the demand for electricity also increases. Power rates in the country are
among the highest in Asia. Since Philippines’ power generation is independent on
imported fossil fuels, the government continues to seek out new ways to significantly
decrease the country’s reliance on it to address the looming power shortage. Concerns
over the power availability in the country have renewed the government’s interest in
nuclear energy, which then proceeded to the calling for the rehabilitation of operation of
the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) under these two bills: Senate Bill No. 2665 and
House Bill No. 4631.
The 389-hectare BNPP was built by former President Ferdinand Marcos in 1976
to help meet the country’s energy needs due to the oil price hike of the decade. The
functional test executed on May 1984 showed that the plant was ready for operation
and was able to generate five megawatts of electricity. As of now, it is assumed that the
BNPP has a capacity of 620 megawatts which can supply 10% of Luzon. Compared to
the other sources of power supply in the country, nuclear power plans are generally
cheaper to operate in the long run because of their cheaper fuel. Nuclear power plants
do not operate differently from fossil fuel-burning power plants. Instead of burning fossil
fuels, nuclear power plants use the heat generated by nuclear fission. During this
process, uranium atoms are bombarded with neutrons until they split, releasing great
amounts of energy as heat and radiation. Nuclear energy advocates claim that is it the
most inexpensive form of energy.
According to Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), nuclear power has
shown to be safe, clean, and cheap as evidenced by the continuing operation of several
nuclear power plants all over the world. Even some of the first world countries have
nuclear power plants as their energy source which is why some government officials
purse the operation of the BNPP here in the Philippines. An estimated amount of 1.7
million tons of coal is needed but only a little amount of nuclear fuel will be used to
produce great power which clearly depicts how cheap is the operation of the BNPP.
Aside from being cheap, nuclear power has its baseload nature which means it can
continuously provide energy to meet the demand. Nuclear energy also does no emit
carbon dioxide because it harnesses energy from fission, not from burning fuels.
Studies shown that nuclear power plants are big help in the reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions around the world.
A number of significant issues are addressed in the operation of the BNPP.
Equipment inside the power is practically brand new and most of its operating systems
are obsolete. Operating the power plant is cheap but its start-up costs are huge and are
usually understated. The estimation resulted that it will cost the Philippine government a
minimum US$800 million and take at least five years to rehabilitate the plant’s
infrastructure and update its operating systems. The cost of rehabilitating the power
plant is enough to fund another fossil fuel-based power plant wherein it contradicts the
Section 12 of the Senate Bill No. 2665 that states, “under no circumstances shall the
cost of rehabilitating the BNPP exceed the price of a brand-new coal-fired power plant
of equivalent power generating capacity.”
A lot of accidents can also occur in nuclear power plants due to nuclear
meltdown, decay heat, equipment failure, human error, transport, and Chernobyl
disaster. Long-lasting consequences will occur if any of these accidents happen.
Earthquakes and tsunami may also happen that can destroy a power plant which may
result in the release of radioactive materials in the atmosphere. Example of it is the
Fukushima Power Plant disaster in Japan last 2011. 54 other nuclear power plants in
Japan were shut down and around 160,000 residents were forced to evacuate because
the plant is still highly radioactive and it will take at least 40 years and tens of billions of
dollars to clean up the area. For the BNPP, the plant sits on the slopes of Mt. Natib, a
potentially active volcano as classified by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and
Seismology (Philvolcs). However, the volcano hasn’t erupted over the last 11,000 years
and no active fault line is detected in the area. Nevertheless, the possibility of an
earthquake occurring in the area cannot be completely ruled out.
Another consequence of a nuclear power plant is the radiation effect on human,
specifically the waste. The waste produced by nuclear power plants is highly
radioactive. Most countries with nuclear power plants safely stores radioactive wastes in
their storage facilities, it must be noted that the operational safety of nuclear power
plants is contingent on the strict implementation and timely observation of international
standards and regulations. Even though they have stored it, these do not suffice the
safety of human from high-level radioactive waste. Radioactive waste takes around
240,000 years to be considered safe. Therefore, the cost of storing nuclear waste until it
is safe is unimaginable. If ever human is exposed to these radioactive wastes, it may
result in sickness or even death. Radiation damages the tissues of our body such as the
gut lining and skin and bone marrow. It may even cause thyroid cancer.
Because of the aforementioned disadvantages, I am against the operation of a
nuclear power plant here in our country and also in the rehabilitation of Bataan Nuclear
Power Plant. Rehabilitating and activating the BNPP at this point seems ill-advised
given the consequences of it. Even though nuclear energy is becoming an increasingly
attractive option for the future given its ability to provide stable and continuous baseload
power, it is significantly hard to avoid any of the disadvantages mentioned above. The
government should focus on looking for other solutions through renewable energy.
Instead of investing in a very expensive nuclear power plant, our government should
just invest on other energy efficiency technologies that will hinder the power shortage
threat that is looming is our country today.
