Nuclear experts based in Russia and Korea told the Department of Energy (DOE) that the 620-megawatt (MW) Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), the first nuclear-power plant built in Southeast Asia more than three decades ago but never went into operation, could still be rehabilitated.
“They submitted their recommendation. It can still be rehabilitated… . I’m looking at the community and the people. I have to go and respect that. The bigger battle is the acceptance of the community,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said.
In August last year, the Nuclear Energy Program Implementing Organization (Nepio), a unit created by the DOE, together with representatives from the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) and National Power Corp. (Napocor) met with representatives of The Russian Federation State Atomic Energy Corp. (Rosatom) to conduct an assessment of the BNPP. Their findings were turned over to the authorities last month.
Amid the recommendation from nuclear experts, the agency has yet to decide pending the outcome of a nuclear policy being crafted. Cusi stressed though that the proposed policy is not specific to BNPP.
“On rehab, that is within my control. Assuming, without saying, that the community will not permit it, I have to look at an alternative because I have to put a closure to the BNPP,” Cusi said.
Some options being considered include converting the facility into a data center, tourist attraction, among others. “I have to find a closure to this project because all of us are paying for the cost,” Cusi said. The government has spent P50 million annually for maintenance costs since 2007, on top of yearly losses amounting to around P12 million.
On the proposed nuclear policy, which will undergo public consultation, Cusi said the country may consider putting up a floating nuclear facility. “The policy is for nuclear, not necessarily BNPP. We are looking at a floating nuclear or a maritime nuclear. When I went to Russia, this will be ready in early -2019. We can bring it in the country and that is around 60 MW,” Cusi said.
For this, the private sector would have to pitch in. “The DOE is not builder of infrastructures, but more of policy directions for the country. So, if the policy on nuclear is a go, we are still not permitted to purchase that. Under Epira, it will be the private sector. We are just paving the way to make it happen,” Cusi explained.
The nuclear policy, he added, would be finalized soon.
The BNPP is the country’s first and only attempt at nuclear-power development. It was supposed to be the first of two nuclear plants to be built in the northern province of Bataan. It was also the first nuclear power plant in Southeast Asia, and was identified as a solution to the 1973 oil crisis that had adversely affected the global economy, including the Philippines.
The $2.3-billion project, however, was mothballed in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. But clamor for the reopening of the BNPP was revived during the power crisis in the 1990s and the skyrocketing oil prices in 2007.
During these periods, the DOE actually came close to reconsidering nuclear power as a potential energy source for the country. But then the Fukushima nuclear-plant incident happened in 2011, creating global panic and concerns about the safety and integrity of nuclear plants.