Nuclear advocacy group Alpas Pinas on Tuesday urged the government to re-open the mothballed 620-megawatt Bataan nuclear power plant instead of putting up a new nuclear facility.
“Help us advocate for the opening of the Philippine nuclear power plant because it is our fastest way to become a nuclear country. It is already built. It will take a lot of time to build a plant. We already have it,” Alpas Pinas lead convenor Gayle Certeza said.
The government decided to mothball BNPP in 1986 over alleged safety concerns.
Pangasinan 2nd District Rep. Mark Cojuangco said if the Philippines had pursued nuclear energy almost four decades ago, electricity prices would have been cheaper today.
He said nuclear is a cheap, clean and reliable source of energy that would drive economic growth and sustainability.
Cojuangco said it is unlikely the Philippines would be able to put up a new nuclear facility by 2032 as targeted by the Department of Energy.
“Following what the DOE is doing, we have no chance to have a nuclear plant by 2032 because they don’t even know what kind of plant they want to buy, right?” he said
Cojuangco said without a reliable supplier of nuclear modules, the Philippines should explore the possibility of putting up a module factory in the abandoned shipyard of Hanjin in Subic Bay, Zambales.
“So that the Philippines becomes part of the supply chain. So that’s what I want to push to the U.S. government. In the meantime, that is not yet existing, the source for our supply chain is Korea and Japan,” he said.
Cojuangco said the affordability of power supply is as important as access in the energy equation.
“Nuclear energy stands out as a cost-competitive option when both system costs and externalities are considered. Its reliable, low-carbon supply offers a pathway to affordable and sustainable energy solutions, making it an attractive alternative in the Philippines’ energy transition,” he said.
Certeza reinforced Cojuangco’s point, highlighting that the additional system costs associated with renewable energy tend to rise disproportionately with increased adoption, placing a heavy burden on the energy infrastructure.
