Akbayan party-list has reiterated its call for the Duterte administration to scrap plans of reviving the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant citing the dangers of opening the mothballed project.
“We are afraid this administration is on a roll in reviving the ghost of Marcos, first by allowing a hero’s burial for the dictator and now reviving the dictator’s corruption-laden pet project,” said Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin.
“But the risks to the safety, health, livelihoods of millions of Filipinos is not worth it,” Villarin warned, in reaction to reports saying DOE Sec. Alfonso Cusi has been given the green signal to start plans to rehabilitate the facility.
“Countries with more advanced technologies like Japan and Germany are already shunning nuclear energy,” he added. “To buck the trend is to deny the reality that we do not have the capacity to manage this source of energy.”
“We cannot even regulate coal and fuel properly,” noted the Akbayan solon. “What is the DOE’s basis to say we can operate the BNPP and ensure the safety of our citizens?”
“The Duterte administration should know that nuclear is not cheap–the cost of operating a nuclear plant has gone up because of increasing safety regulations required by international standards.”
“The costs of waste disposal will also drain taxpayers money, because we do not have the technical capacities to handle nuclear waste,” cautioned Villarin.
“While nuclear accidents have low a probability of occurring, it could be higher in a country ranked as the most disaster-prone country in the world, including to earthquakes.”
“The Fukushima accident and the Chernobyl disaster should remind us what is at stake here. If a rich, scientifically-advanced country like Japan had to spend hundreds of millions to avoid a meltdown in Fukushima, imagine what it would cost the Philippines to clean up a BNPP accident.”
“The estimated USD1 billion required to rehabilitate the BNPP could go instead into pushing for renewables, where even if initial capital layout is high, has proven cheaper in the long run,” Villarin explained. “Costs of turbines, solar panels and batteries have gone down as a result of research and development.”
“It is also not true that renewable energy cannot address energy demand because sufficient investment levels in renewables do have the ability to suffice for baseload requirements, as studies have shown.”
“Investing in renewables would also be in line with the mandate of the Renewable Energy Act which clearly lays out the policy objective of moving away from dirty technologies such as coal and nukes in favor of sustainable sources of power.”