The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.
THE country stands to save P1 trillion annually and further reduce, if not eliminate, the $2 to $3.5 billion a year it spends to import liquefied natural gas. The key to this development, which would also save the average Filipino the usual backbreaking burden of high electric bills, is the consistent generation of 16,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity through nuclear power.
“But the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) does not even have 1,000 megawatts of electricity,” said Pangasinan 2nd District Rep. Mark Cojuangco, indicating that more plants have to be established. The longtime proponent for nuclear energy and recipient of the American Nuclear Society Distinguished Public Service Award added to his lament that the slow wheels of bureaucracy had left the country behind in a field where it could have been the first.
The Philippine BNPP, constructed in 1976, was supposed to be the first nuclear power plant in Southeast Asia. Though completed, it was never launched. In contrast, according to Alpas Pinas, an organization that advocates nuclear energy, out of the 442 global nuclear power reactors that are either operational and/or under construction, China has 59; Japan, 35; India, 29; and South Korea, 28.
Besides global competitiveness, the government under the previous Duterte administration had already recognized that, despite the apprehensions surrounding it, nuclear power remains crucial to the country’s electrical supply. According to Executive Order 164, “The projected demand for a clean energy pathway in the country is expected to grow at 4.4 percent a year, requiring almost 68 gigawatts of additional capacity by 2040. Considering this demand and the depletion of natural gas resources, nuclear power will play an important role to contribute to the required capacity to achieve energy security, especially to meet the needs of an emerging upper-middle-income country.”
Rep. Mark Cojuangco at the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. PHOTOS FROM LYN GEROLAO
Those were some reasons behind Alpas Pinas’ media briefing on Dec. 7 where Cojuangco was the main speaker: it was high time for the Philippines to get back into the race and accelerate our participation. The message emphasized that nuclear energy could reduce the nation’s reliance on costly fossil fuels, lower electricity prices and ensure more stability in the energy sector.
First, however, Alpas Pinas lead convenor Gayle Certeza had to address the issue of risk and safety that was in everyone’s mind. The very word “nuclear” conjures up images straight from a science-fiction movie, where the breakdown of a nuclear power plant unleashes a holocaust that kills millions and devastates entire nations.
“Less than 50 people died from Chernobyl and there was zero casualty or injury due to radiation at Fukushima,” she said, mentioning the first two notorious incidents.
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When it comes to annual death rates based on accidents and air pollution per terawatt-hour of electricity, fossil fuels can cost almost 2 million lives, while nuclear energy-related casualties reach less than a thousand, Certeza said.
Next, the lead convenor cited studies from the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute explaining why nuclear energy can generate the 16,000 MW as mentioned earlier: it has 4 million times more energy density than common energy sources like natural gas, gasoline, coal and wood.
Neither would it cost as much. Comparing the BNPP to the processes of a 620-MW coal plant, Certeza said that the importation of the latter’s coal would cost $800 million and be created in 50 ships. In contrast, the BNPP’s uranium fuel could easily be placed in boxes that fit inside one jeepney and cost only $30 million.
With the BNPP’s capacity to generate 620 MW, more nuclear plants would have to be built or bought. Compared to the American model, Cojuangco said that the Korean model is less expensive at around $4 billion each.
He considered it an investment with the projection that the country would take “20 years to recover.” Alpas Pinas calculated that the lowest cost of fossil electricity is P7 per kilowatt-hour. A contract for electricity with a nuclear power plant will reduce that amount to P5 per kilowatt-hour which will then be the cheapest electricity supply. “After 20 years, where you paid the investment and the interest, the financial cost is gone,” Cojuangco added. Then this P5 per kilowatt-hour expense “can go down to P1.30 after the initial capitalization has been paid for.”
Thus, the BNPP’s 620 MW worth of power can result in P2 savings for each Filipino consumer — “savings for the people,” Cojuangco called it — and resulting to P10 billion a year from BNPP’s 5 billion kilowatt per-hour/year output.
A nuclear power plant’s longevity is another advantage, pointed out Cojuangco. He said, “Nuclear plants last for 80 years, unlike coal plants that last for 30 to 40 years. After you pay [for] 20 years, it will be easy [for] the next 60 years.”
Finally, Cojuangco recommended fast-tracking the country’s nuclear power development while cutting through the red tape: “The President should issue an executive order creating the Office of Nuclear Energy, which is under him. It should have its independent undersecretary and staff. The mandate should be clear: make a way for us to have a capacity of 60,000 megawatts by 2045.”
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