Revival of Bataan Nuclear Power Plant a Source of Corruption?
BY RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
Activists are gearing up for protests against the planned revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).
In a telephone interview, Roman Polintan, chairperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in Central Luzon, said they would launch a massive campaign against the proposed reopening of the BNPP.
In July last year, Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco filed the bill titled Bataan Nuclear Power Plant Commissioning Act of 2008. The bill has already been approved by the Energy Committee and is now pending in the Appropriations Committee. It has already gained 190 signatures in the House.
In December 2008, the Department of Energy through the National Power Corporation signed a memorandum of agreement with the Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) to conduct a feasibility study on the possible revival of the BNPP.
A Westinghouse light water reactor, it was designed to produce 621 megawatts of electricity.[2]
The BNPP was a project of former President Ferdinand Marcos. The BNPP construction began in 1976 and was completed in 1984 at a cost of $2.3 billion. The nuclear plant is located at the foot of Mt. Natib in Morong, Bataan. Marcos was toppled in 1986. The succeeding administration of Corazon Aquino decided not to operate the plant after citing 4,000 defects in its design and construction.
However, former President Aquino, rejecting the call of various sectors not to pay the BNPP loan because it is considered as onerous, stood pat in her decision to pay the loan. The succeeding administrations of Ramos, Estrada, and Arroyo likewise were adamant in paying the loan for the mothballed BNPP. The loan, amounting to P120 billion ($2,532,179,784 at the current exchange rate of $1=P47.39) including the principal and interest, was fully paid by April 2007
Historic struggle
Polintan said that the BNPP is unacceptable to the people of Central Luzon. It is not the ordinary people who will benefit from it but the foreign business corporations and their local partners.
The activist leader joined the mammoth protests against the BNPP in the 80s.
Polintan recalled, Tens of thousands of residents of Bataan and nearby provinces joined the welgang bayan (peoples strike) against the BNPP.
He added, People would come out from their houses to join the protests.
We call on the people of Central Luzon to once again act in unison and raise their voices to thwart this move [revival of BNPP]. Polintan said
Balanga, Bataan Bishop Socrates Villegas and Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said the plan of some lawmakers to re-open the BNPP would be met with opposition due to the risk the power plant poses to human life and safety.
Villegas in a text message said the nuke plant, based in Morong town, was already declared unsafe 30 years ago and it cannot be made safe by a mere congressional act.
Polintan welcomed the statements of Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Balanga Bishop Socrates Villegas and Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo. Polintan said they plan to get the support of other Church leaders in the region.
Courting disaster
Polintan said Cojuangcos proposal is courting disaster, stressing that the operation of the power plant poses grave danger to life and environment, and is unacceptable to the people of Central Luzon.
Noting that the plant sits right on an active volcano, Polintan warned that any seismic activity might cause it to explode.
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Polintan and Bautista should be better have their mouth kept shut. For Godness sake, these people are telling that the mothballed BNPP is unsafe and it was built in a fault line or within volcano range which haven’t erupted since time immemorial. Technology is far advance now as compared to thirty years ago. Are we going to polish this white elephant throughout our lives? Taxpayers have spent a lot of money for the construction of BNPP and now that it is already fully owned by the Philippines’ government and with the skyrocketing price of electricity, it will be a great help if the BNPP starts operating. Besides, who among the radicals will dare bomb/sabotage it?
Polintan and Bautista should be better have their mouth kept shut. For Goodness sake, these people are telling that the mothballed BNPP is unsafe and it was built in a fault line or within volcano range which haven’t erupted since time immemorial. Technology is far advance now as compared to thirty years ago. Are we going to polish this white elephant throughout our lives? Taxpayers have spent a lot of money for the construction of BNPP and now that it is already fully owned by the Philippines’ government and with the skyrocketing price of electricity, it will be a great help if the BNPP starts operating. Besides, who among the radicals will dare bomb/sabotage it?
We will not allow another Chernobyl disaster to happen in the Philippines. Not in Bataan…we love Bataan! We support Bishop Soc Villegas! thanks
Its true that technology is far more advanced now compared to thirty years ago but accidents happen every time and isn’t prevention better than cure? I just don’t feel the Philippines is ready to power up a power plant with so many intelligent but corrupt crocodiles swimming around. Besides, why not enhance our solar power?
It’s also very intriguing that the government is interested in Bataan nuclear power plant and claims it can help our economy but never even sniffed at our fellow Kabayan who managed to design an engine running on water as its fuel. Won’t that make you wonder?
I just hope that in the near future, the Philippines would have a president who really will think for the sake of the Filipinos.
The Baatan nuclear power plant is light water reactor. It will never be Chernobyl type. Chernobyl type reactors contain enormous quantity grafit (grafit=100% carbon), because this carbon is the neutron slow down media in the Chernobyl type reactors. This carbon burnt during days in 1986.
with the presence of swarming corrupt crocodiles, why still open the Bataan Power plant. But if we only open our eyes and don’t let fear conquer us, we Filipino people could benefit from the advantages of having our own power plant. it would be a big help to the country and revitalizes our depleting economy
Nuclear technology will give many chances for education, shelter, food, and transportation that would never be possible with less advanced technology. In the Tennesee River Valley of the U.S. with cheap electricity our communities changed radically. Then when in the town of Russelville, Arkansas we got a nuclear reactor for giving more cheap electricity to us the quality of life advanced significantly. I hope that you put that ‘white elephant’ to work asap.
it produces toxic materials!!where are we going to put it after many years ago??
I understand that we need an alternative source of energy to help raise our staggering economy. But does it have to be nuclear power? It’s utterly risky, and you have to admit that we are not technologically advanced enough to handle something as great a magnitude as this. Why not use solar power or geothermal energy?
Our country Hungary produces 40% of the total electric production from light water nuclear reactors. The most cheaper electric energy comes from nuclear in our homeland. Japan is a country which same to Philippines has many vulcanos, earthquakes, typhoons and Japan full of nuclear power stations!!!!!!! The geothermal energy is very important to Philippines, this time The Pilippines is the first or second in the World geothermal electric energy generation, but the geothermal electric energy generation alone is not enough for a quickly indrustrialisating nation!
i dont think a nuclear option is worse than coal. if we feed coal to crocks they’d dare not swallow it, so feed them something radio active. you bet finally, that skins can peel off on this.
it is really disappointing that instead they focus on something that would really help our country to grow and support our kababayan’s whose goal are to promote the Philippines by means of inventing, using our natural resources and preserving our nature they preffered endangering it and putting their people’s life at stake.
[...] Good luck convincing me, Mr. Tampinco. Good luck convincing the residents of Bataan, who have been protesting the BNPP since its project inception. Good luck convincing the Filipino people of the viable option of investing in a power source that could poison their water sources, explode in their faces, and suction a huge amount of money out of their hard-earned taxes. Good luck trying to make us believe that the revival of an antiquated, outdated, outright dangerous power source is out of good intentions. [...]
to all who are againts the opening of BNPP, they must go back to school and learn the art of common sense, because I am sure they did not know what they are saying. I was born and raised in bataan, but i cannot see anything wrong in the opening of the BNPP, the issues they raised against it are far from reality. to the people who are against the BNPP, you are negative thinkers, Philippines is still outdated because of you. you pretend to love your country, but in reality you are not, because you are the hindrances in the development.
pwede po magtanong..??
anong company po ba ung magpapatakbo ng bnpp kung irereopen??
assignment eh.. sagot po..
salamat
sa totoo lng dapat wag na eh..
kse may nandun ung philippine fault!
kung iisipen, sayang nga naman ung binayad dun..
bat kase dun pa linagay eh!!
di na dapat un iopen pra sa safety..
bat kase dun pa nilagay eh..
pati 2loy ako nasasayangan..
dami nman islands ng phil..
ilipat nalang yan!!
jowk.. hehe
hoy dell..
grabe ka naman..
sobrang selfish mo..
hindi mo ba alam na nandun ung philippine fault..?? and pag nagkataon malakig accident un..!
ung mga taong anti sa pag rereopen nun..
hindi cla hindrances.. concerned lng po sa safety..!!
at ikaw, hindi development iniisip mo..
muka kang pera!
Look at Japan. Japan is full of nuclear power stations (and they are building more and more). Look at South Korea. South Korea is full of nuclear power stations (and they are building more and more). Look at China. China is full of nuclear power stations (and they are building more and more).
muslims celebrate religion and science. a new power source is we need. secure y0′self. fossil fuel outdatedffffff(caution)cwebubawertjkicum
nu ba yan!!
cnu ba ng isip na itayo yan sa malapit sa pinatubo??
heller panu pag sumabog ung bulkan??
mag isio naman kau matatalinong tao pa nman kau!!
tsk tsk
let the citizen of the country decide:
do not in anyway neglect their opinion towards the future of this big time absolute nonsense project. since 2007 they have the power to voice out their opinion what to do to what they have sweat for.
government should conduct a massive survey involving intelligent citizen contributing opinion of their own,their out there! mock up scenario to educate naive citizen so they could involve. evaluate the 4,000 + defects if its viably fixable. concentrate on safety issue persuading citizen that this is 100% attainable if this nuke revived and commissioned otherwise might as well demolish this or officially declare this a project that is mishandled incorrectly and only good for tourist that is interested on seeing the existence (to pay for maintenance). Citizen can not afford 2nd mistake anymore. eliminate unqualified government executive handling decisions for nuke issue that will endangering the whole country. Show the world that modern filipinos know how to handle $2 billion project properly.
I really do not understand why a lot of people are so paranoid about the Philippines becoming the second Chernobyl. First of all, Chernobyl is just one out of 439 nuclear power plants in the world – and the other power plants are working just fine. This means that Chernobyl is just a “negative externality” of running a nuclear powerplant, and the thing is, with the current cutting edge technology (we can participate in tech sharing with other countries) this worst case scenario CAN EASILY BE PREVENTED as what 31 nuclear powered countries have been doing nicely up to now.
That is why we must not use these negative externalities and mere “what-if-that-happens’s” as our reason in protesting against the revival of the mothballed powerplant. To do so is just as strange as saying that we should ban the production of cars simply because accidents can happen.
Now on the issue of Corazon Aquino Administration deciding not to operate the plant because of 4,000 defects. I agree that there are defects as of the moment and I am glad that we found them, but that does not in any way mean that the BNPP will permanently be defected. Of course we WILL DO THE NECESSARY REMODELING AND REPAIRS in order for the BNPP to function safely and efficiently.
Lets be realistic, of course the government will take all necessary precautions and perform appropriate maintenance checks because DUH it’s a nuclear power plant! And no one, even the government itself, wants a disaster to happen. In fact the government will be the first to ensure safety – they wouldn’t want their first nuclear plant to screw up and end up in int’l headlines.
Let us not forget:
# Gabor Korpas Says:
February 15th, 2009 at 3:08 am
“The Baatan nuclear power plant is light water reactor. It will never be Chernobyl type. Chernobyl type reactors contain enormous quantity grafit (grafit=100% carbon), because this carbon is the neutron slow down media in the Chernobyl type reactors. This carbon burnt during days in 1986.”
The fact of the matter is that a safe nuclear power plant IS indeed possible with the tried-and-tested procedures. We have seen this happen in several countries. Japan for example, which has a far higher risks of disasters like earthquake as compared to the Philippines, has no trouble maintaining its 53 nuclear reactors all over the mountainous islands. This is not limited only to developed nations, developing countries like Brazil, Argentina, India and Pakistan all have nuke power plants. Indonesia is planning to build two of them.
I think it is important to decrease the fossil energy consumtion in the World. The climate changing is a danger for a country which consits of islets. A nuclear power station decreases the fossil energy consumption in global and decrease the enery import cost together for The Philippines.
WE must commission now the BNPP and let us enjoy the taxes we paid for it. It is already fully paid last 2007 and by the time value of money na hindi man lang natin sya nagamit since 1986, the ultimate cost sa bayan natin ay more than 2.3Billion dollars na because the money got sunk in in an investment that never gave back value to us.
We have to wake up to the fact that after all these ignorant knee jerk fears (as most Filipinos are prone to), never did the Pinatubo explosion or any fault line fault line of earthquake shook that plant and wrought havoc to us. Now is the time to ensure its upgraded rehabilitation, and full top notch safety and operate the plant soon. Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam are widening their competitive manufacturing edge against us through cheap nuclear generated electricity. Marcos had the foresight before and let us just build on it coz all the negative fears we have for the plant today never really materialized. The plant is intact and there was no danger at all…only cowardice among us brought by laziness to research modern facts.
pres.noy bakit di nyo po pa bukas ulit ang nuclear power plant ng pilipinas??????????????????diba ok lng un…
***QUESTIONS OF CONSPIRACY****
1 BAKIT UMANGAT ANG TAIWAN, CHINA, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA ??
BECAUSE THEY HAVE CHEAPEST SOURCE OF ENERGY WHICH IS URANIUM!
TAIWAN GOT 7 NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS AND PLANNING TO BUILD ANOTHER 7 NUCLEAR POWER PLANT FOR THE NEXT 7 YEARS
CHINA AY HINDI NA MABILANG
JAPAN GOT 54 NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
VIETNAM IS PLANNING TO BUILD SEVEN NUKE POWER PLANT
INDONESIA IS ALSO PLANNING TWO NUKE POWER PLANT
*THIS IS THE SECRET TO BECOME FIRST WORLD COUNTRY THIS IS THE REAL ECONOMY WE NEED REAL INFRASTRUCTURE*
HINDI TOTOO NA KUNG WALANG CORAPT WALANG MAHIRAP- PWE!!!
KAHIT SAANG BANSA MY CORAPTION AT MAS MALALAKING PERA KAYSA PILIPINAS PA ANG INVOLVE!
WITH THE USED OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WE CAN BUILD A NUCLEAR POWERED DESALINATION PLANT! WE WILL CONVERT SEAWATER INTO POTABLE WATER!
PLS NATIONALIZE ALL PUBLIC UTILITY SPECIAL ENERGY SECTOR!!! OR THEY WILL CHEAT YOU!!! LIKE A VAMPIRE!!
bakit nd n nga lng buksan?? besides it will be a great help in our economy.. masyado lng tlgng negative thinkers ang kramihan sa mga filipinos..
I agree to what “JONI Aim” said. We should utilize the plant since the Philippine government is paying for it even if it’s not operational.
Bataan Nuclear Power Plant Re-Commissioning Act of 2008. Should this be adopted as a national policy? Absolutely! Let me attempt to debunk the opposition to the bill culled from the position papers presented by the Panel of Resource Speakers who participated in the Committee hearing on the 2nd of February 2009 (FCAID 2009):
1. “The BNPP Bill lacks feasibility study.” This statement is misleading. The bill itself stands on a strong scholarly foundation. It requires reason, not emotion to understand the bill. BNPP site had been studied for more than 11 years prior to the decision to purchase it in the 70’s. More recently, and again in the 90’s, it has also been evaluated and re-evaluated by the IAEA and has been found to be sound in accordance with their guidelines (Cojuangco 2008, Explanatory Note).
2. “The BNPP is structurally defective and unsafe.” The design of the BNPP is not unique. BNPP has three sister plants which were constructed simultaneously during the 70’s. These are the Krsko in Yugoslavia, Kori 2 in South Korea and Angra 1 in Brazil. These power plants have been in operation for over 20 years now. No minor and major accidents have been reported. The plant type of BNPP is PWR or Pressurized Water Reactor which accounts for 265 nuclear power plants of the total 439 operating worldwide (based on the 2007 figures) or 60%. In spite of this figure, not a single death has been attributed to the operation of this type of nuclear power plant in the last forty plus years (Cojuangco 2008, Explanatory Note).
3. “The BNPP Site has an unacceptably high risk of serious damage from earthquakes, volcanism, or both.” This claim is not true. A very many nuclear plants and other nuclear facilities in the world are located near geological fault lines. The BNPP is located on the sound bedrock and its location is as good as that of any other comparable power plants. It is beside the fault line. It doesn’t straddle the fault line. A thinking person knows the difference.
4. “The BNPP is an unnecessary response to faulty power shortage projections.” The country has been on a sporadic shortage of power ever since. The problem is not just shortage but the surging electricity rates. Energy is the basic requirement to run the economy. But the shortage of power in the recent history of the country and the high electricity rates make the country a victim of Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Nuclear power plant offers the most cost-effective source of energy. This will put an end to the country’s unbearable dependence on oil and to immoral contracts that the previous administrations engaged into in a desperate attempt to solve the power shortage.
5. “The BNPP would be costly to operate and accompanied by enormous hidden costs.” This is another lie. Nuclear power plant is proven to be the most cost-effective source of energy to date. Section 13 of the proposed bill states that “NOPOCOR shall endeavor to complete this mandate at a cost that is substantially below one half of the cost of a brand new coal fired power plant of equal capacity. Under no circumstances shall the cost exceed the price of a brand new coal fired power plant of equivalent power generating capacity” (Cojuangco 2008).
6. “The BNPP is a glaring testimony to the government’s continuing wasteful debt policy at the expense of the people’s welfare.” BNPP is declared as a national patrimony, thus must be treasured and taken full advantage of by the people. We paid for it, thus we must use it. The sufferings in the past should not justify the sufferings in the future.
7. “The BNPP is not an answer to Climate Crisis, nor an alternative to Renewable Energy.” Many green advocates conveniently promote solar which is not bad at all. But using big mirrors to store energy is not a practical idea to run an economy at a faster pace. It is unreliable as the sunlight doesn’t stay 24 hours, at least on earth. Solar power plant, like wind power plant, requires big land area and massive manpower, which in the end is more expensive and inefficient. We have hydro and geothermal which should stay as sources of energy. But nuclear remains to be superior.
The Philippine government must reconsider nuclear power technology as this has been scientifically proven to be the most cost-effective and environment-friendly source of energy to date. BNPP has been stigmatized as environmentally dangerous. The fact of the matter is that the technology has already evolved and been modernized.
The Philippine government spent $2.3 billion to build BNPP without generating a kilowatt of electricity. It is high time to revisit the old strategy to secure the country with enough energy power and finally free the country from dependence on imported oil. It is worth mentioning here that the International Atomic Energy Agency inspected the power plant in Bataan in 2008 and reported that this could be rehabilitated, in full compliance with high international safety environment standards, in at least five years at a cost of $800 million (Burgonio 2008).
If there’s one aspect of the bill that is lacking in substance, that is the source of funding the BNPP operation. I strongly suggest that the author and co-authors of the bill must stipulate where the government can get the money from to start the rehabilitation and operation of BNPP. What I suggest as a fiscal strategy, the government should urgently declare debt moratorium to start the rehabilitation. The Philippines is servicing the debt over US $10 billion per year, which is more than enough to start the full operation of BNPP and advance nuclear power industry in the country.
nareopen na ba ulit ang bataan powerplant? mga ilang years ang gap nung pinasara tas inopen ulet, if open na ulet..
Nuclear power plant is the most reliable power source of electricity. reviving the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. People just have fear perception on the word “Nuclear”.. This plant is very safe.. Safety measures were already considered.. Most important thing is… this will be handled by Philippine Mechanical Engineers…
Advantages:
1. Small footprint
2. low cost of operation
3. eco-friendly – fuel are recyclable
4. Stable power source… etc..
GOD Bless!!
Baka kaya ayaw buksan ang BNPP, kasi mawawalan ng negosyo ang mga Lopez. Matatalo nito siguro ang meralco.
Politics and money is the only solution in Philippines. Pay local governments and residents who stay within a minimum distance and maximum distance from the power plant, a small percentage of the gross electricity sales. Residents who stay too near the plant should get NOTHING.
as my prof. gave us a case study about the BNPP it was a very complicated situation if it would be able to revive or not or what kind of situation would be to make the BNPP usable. if the government really care about the crisis in decreasing the need of imported oil for electricity then they should be willing to sacrifice a lot of money, for me the best solution for us to have a better way of life must make another nuclear power plant but it should be more careful this time, although making another NPP is expensive but it would be worthy in the future.
better if we will try than to pay millions for maintenance and give us nothing but additional debt.
di naman basta basta lang yan inilagay sa bataan.. pinag ispan yun.. kasama ang safety sa ikonoconsider sa site selection.. sayang lang ang nagasos kung di naman mag ooperate..
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