In Negros Occidental Nuclear power plant plan opposed

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Nuclear power plants remain a grave threat to human safety and security, and must be banned in the country, an environmentalist group declared in its opposition to the proposed nuclear power plant in Negros Occidental.

Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement—Negros area manager Edwin Balajadia, in a statement, said: “Despite the advances in nuclear science and technology, there is still no ‘100 percent safe ground’ when it comes to controlling and producing nuclear power and in disposing nuclear wastes as shown in the experience of more technologically advanced countries.”

Former Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco, an advocate of nuclear power, said in a recent press briefing in this city that he is proposing for the construction of nuclear power plants in the Philippines to address the looming power shortage, now highlighted by a power crisis in Mindanao.

“Nuclear power addresses not only cheap energy, but also global warming and climate change. It is the safest and cleanest energy ever invented by humankind and we ought to use it to serve our people,” he said.

Cojuangco is also pushing for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Negros Occidental, which earned the support of Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. He said the province is an ideal site for this power plant because it is centrally located in the Visayas region, and could supply power to Cebu and Panay islands.

Cojuangco said wind and solar power will be too expensive for the Filipino people at P25 to 50 per kilowatt hour. Today, wholesale electricity is sold at P4.5 to P5 per kilowatt- hour, but nuclear power will be sold at P2 to P2.50 per kWh, he said.

Balajadia however countered: “The issue of having access to cheap and adequate electric power as a precursor in spurring economic development must not be done to the detriment of the risk and safety of Negrenses.”

Energy Secretary Rene Almendras said the government is eyeing the possibility of tapping nuclear energy to address the looming power supply shortage but the decision to use nuclear energy source will be left to the next administration.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, for his part, said he also opposes the nuclear power plant proposal because “nuclear power is very dangerous in countries like the Philippines because we are in the Pacific Ring of Fire where earthquakes are a common occurrence.”

“What we are advocating though is for renewable energy to be used, especially solar power as can be seen with House Bill 5405 or the One Million Solar Roofs Act. And of course, support for our bill to repeal the EPIRA (Electric Power Reform Industry Act),” Colmenares added.

Cojuangco said new generation nuclear power plants, like the Westinghouse generation-3 plus nuclear plants that China will start operating in April 2013, have a ‘passive cooling system’, which allows these to cool themselves by natural processes even with complete disconnection from electricity or damage of standby generators.

He said that what happened to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan following an earthquake and tsunami that hit it in March last year actually strengthened the case for the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

Fukushima, which has a seismic specification of 0.18G, did not collapse when a magnitude 9 quake hit it, and this meant that the BNPP, which has a higher seismic specification at 0.40G, cam also withstand a quake of the same intensity.

Balajadia however said, “We disagree with Cojuangco’s assessment that what happened in Fukushima, Japan in March last year strengthened the case for the reactivation of the Bataan Nuclear Plant or for the building of nuclear plants here in Negros.”

“Rather, the Fukushima incident, coming only a few decades from the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island nuclear plant incidents, only bolstered our belief that existing nuclear power plants remain a grave threat to human safety and security and thus, must be mothballed and a ban enacted on the construction of new nuclear plants,” Balajadia said.

“Cojuangco and Marañon must focus on fostering local initiatives towards energy efficiency and renewable energy development especially on solar power, hydro, wind, and biomass, of which Negros has one of the richest sources,” he said.

Cojuangco countered: “I am asking the public, opinion-makers and leaders in the community to consider these facts… Without cheap energy we really have no economic future to speak of. We will never pull ourselves out of poverty.” (FREEMAN)