Climate and energy advocates ramped up calls for a shift away from “expensive and unreliable” fossil fuels in the wake of recent power plant outages and capacity reductions.
“If you love the planet Earth, you got to love nuclear—because nuclear is the zero-carbon emission answer to climate change,” says advocacy group ALPAS Pinas lead convenor Gayle Certeza at a recent talk on nuclear energy at the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI).
Nuclear has plenty of advantages: It’s safe and it produces no carbon emissions (and, counterintuitively, releases less radioactive uranium and other elements into the environment than burning coal does). It takes up a lot less land than renewables, a not insignificant consideration. If the goal is to decarbonize quickly and with as little social pain as possible, “nuclear is essential,” says Certeza.
PNRI director Carlos Arcilla stresses that the operation of a nuclear power plant in the country can significantly address electricity woes and benefit the economy.
“The electricity cost in the Philippines is now the most expensive in Asia—a median Filipino family pays more than 10 to 15 percent of its monthly income just for electricity. In many countries, less than 1 percent,” he says. “That’s why we need nuclear because it’s cheap and will reduce the burden of consumers. When you turn on a nuclear plant, it will be available 90 percent of the time because of its high capacity factor. Walang hinto-hinto iyan, sa init, sa ulan, sa lahat because it doesn’t depend on weather.”
Arcilla notes that the inclusion of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix should not be limited to the rehabilitation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant as small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power plants are considerably easier and faster to put up and appear to be ideal for the country, it being an archipelago with many islands off grid.
“There is so much potential for our businesses and economy to grow if only it’s not paralyzed by the high electricity prices. And this problem can be addressed if we recognize nuclear energy as a reliable energy source,” he adds.
Nuclear energy is also seen as another baseload power source as the Malampaya gas field, the country’s sole natural gas provider, is close to drying up.
In case the country utilizes nuclear energy, chairperson of the House special committee on nuclear energy and Pangasinan 2nd District Rep. Mark Cojuangco suggests that a nuclear waste facility can be put up on Pag-asa Island in Palawan.
He said nuclear waste may be disposed through storage in dry cask containers for future use or through deep borehole disposal where the radioactive material is buried deep underground.
“We want it done on Pag-asa Island so we kill two birds with one stone. We put economic value to this place—all the people there all of a sudden have good, high-paying jobs and we exert our national sovereignty at the same time,” Cojuangco adds.
Founded in 2019, ALPAS Pinas is a non-stock, non-profit organization advocating for the use of nuclear energy as a clean source of energy.