Nuclear Energy to be Considered as Alternative Energy Source, Civic Groups Disapprove

The inclusion of nuclear power as an alternative energy source has recently been approved by President Rodrigo Duterte after he signed Executive Order (EO) no. 164 on February 28. “The National Government commits to the introduction of nuclear power energy into the state’s energy mix,” EO no. 164 explained.

Under the EO, the Department of Energy is also urged to conduct a pre-feasibility study while the Nuclear Energy Program Inter-Agency Committee (NEP-IAC) has been entrusted with looking into the use of the inactive Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) and the establishment of other nuclear energy facilities.

Duterte noted that the move to revive the country’s nuclear power program is driven by economic, political, social, and environmental considerations. “For the country to achieve its sustained growth targets, it must ensure that it has a reliable, secure, sustainable, quality and affordable electricity supply, including sufficient reserve to guarantee that there will be no disruptions in power supply.”

He further affirmed that nuclear power should be examined as a “viable baseload power source” along with renewables in an effort to assist the Philippines’ shift away from coal-fired plants. In 2020, coal accounted for 57% of the country’s power mix, while 21% was renewable energy, 19% was natural gas, and 2% was oil-based.

Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi has expressed his support for the use of nuclear power to allow the country to achieve energy security. “Nuclear power is cheaper and more consistent than other energy sources,” echoed Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute director Caloy Arcilla.

However, the government is tasked with generating a regulatory framework for the nuclear energy program for the move to be realized, said Energy Undersecretary Gerardo D. Erguiza, Jr. With the elections coming up, Erguiza added that it will also fall upon the next administration if it will support the nuclear energy program since “2027 is the earliest possible [time when we can build a traditional] nuclear power plant.”

There are already 16 possible locations that have been identified for nuclear power plants — but 13 of which have been on the list since the 1980s — which are situated in Bataan, Batangas, Cagayan, Negros Occidental, Zamboanga del Norte, Quezon, General Santos City, and Sulu. “These areas are considered because they are isolated, the availability of the cooling system, basically based on the general standards, but again, there is a process,” Erguiza elaborated.

Naturally, various civic groups are protesting the idea granted the environmental and safety concerns attached to nuclear power. Climate justice advocate Antonio Gabriel M. La Viña believes that the government still has not convinced the general public that the safety issues surrounding nuclear plants “can be properly addressed.” “I think Bataan is a nonstarter because of its location and the sheer density of people in Central Luzon.”

Environmental group Greenpeace had similar sentiments, insisting that the government should retract the EO because it does not fall in line with the call for concrete, sustainable, and safe solutions to the energy crisis. “Nuclear is the most dangerous and most expensive source of electricity and is the last thing the Filipino people need at a time when we are already deep in debt and trying to recover from a major health crisis,” it explained.

Greenpeace also hopes that the next administration’s first order of business would be to discard the idea. “The next administration will already inherit a huge debt burden and the pursuit of nuclear will make this even heavier due to steep capital costs for construction, operation of nuclear plants, enormous costs of radioactive fuel storage, and costs for managing a nuclear incident that can reach billions of dollars, as well as price volatility as almost all sources of uranium are in conflict areas.”

Source: BusinessWorld