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Friday, March 29, 2024

Nuclear power now part of PH energy source

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President Duterte has signed an executive order to establish a nuclear energy program for the Philippines to support the country’s growing power demands.

The order, signed on Feb. 28 could be a major milestone for the country’s energy sector, which suffers regular power outages, but it will likely meet strong opposition from those who have safety concerns.

In Executive Order No. 164 dated Feb. 28, Duterte cited the experience of highly developed countries which shows that nuclear power can be a “reliable, cost-competitive, and environment-friendly energy source.”

“The national government commits to the introduction of nuclear power energy into the state’s energy mix for power generation,” the order said.

The EO outlined the national government’s position for a nuclear energy program, taking into account economic, political, social, and environmental objectives.

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“For the country to achieve its sustained growth targets, it must ensure that it has a reliable, secure, sustainable, quality, affordable electricity supply, including sufficient reserve to guarantee that there will be no disruptions in the power supply,” the order said.

Toward this end, and taking into consideration the experience of developed and growing economies, nuclear power shall be tapped as a viable alternative baseload power source along with alternative energy resources, to address the projected decline of coal-fired power plants, which come under increasing environmental opposition, the document said.

“Life cycle emissions from nuclear power chains are comparable with the best renewable energy chains and several orders of magnitude lower than fossil fuel chains,” it said.

“The state envisions nuclear power as a viable component to bridge the gap between rising energy demands and supply, taking into account learnings from the past, national, social and economic development pathways, as well as international legal and regulatory frameworks, and best practices,” it added.

The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier completed a feasibility study on the viability of introducing nuclear power in the country’s energy mix.

According to the EO, a nuclear energy program has the potential to drive economic growth. It noted that nuclear power can also help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and has a strong potential to decarbonize the power sector.

Under the order, the state shall ensure the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

The EO also directs the Nuclear Energy Program-Inter-Agency Committee (NEP-IAC) formed in 2020 to conduct further studies if necessary, and make recommendations on the use and viability of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant and the establishment of other facilities for the utilization of nuclear energy.

The $2.3-billion BNPP located in Morong, Bataan was completed in the 1980s during the term of late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, but was mothballed in 1986 out of safety concerns. It had a rated capacity of 623 megawatts.

Several groups, including Greenpeace, the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) and the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED), have already expressed dismay at the EO.

Renato Redentor Constantino, ICSC executive director, said nuclear power is inconsistent with the aims of DOE to modernize the power sector.

“Our people deserve consistency. The DOE’s moratorium on greenfield coal in October 2020 was widely applauded because it was the correct move in the face of sustained outages produced by a grid made unstable by excess baseload capacity…Yet nuclear is even more rigid than coal. It cannot provide the power needs of the country and will only exacerbate the already precarious, unstable conditions of the grid and will make electricity more unreliable and expensive,” Constantino said.

He said that even if concerns about radioactive waste, environmental safety, energy import dependence, and national security issues are set aside, “nuclear is an even worse fit for our power system compared to obsolete coal.”

“Nuclear will be a massive economic burden to our people, given the plethora of cost overruns and massive subsidies that have plagued the industry for decades to date,” Constantino said.

Greenpeace Campaigner Khevin Yu called on the Duterte administration to revoke EO 164 as it is not aligned with the interests of the Filipino people.

“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,” Yu said.

“The Duterte administration is about to leave a tarred legacy and is setting us up for another horror story like Chernobyl and Fukushima, and that of countries that utilize nuclear power but have no solution to radioactive spent fuel waste.

Current and future g enerations will be left to face the dangerous risks of harnessing nuclear energy, along with the impacts of the climate crisis,” he said.

Yu called on the next administration to scrap the nuclear option once and for all.

Gerry Arances, CEED Executive Director said Duterte should instead focus on averting the looming rotating brownouts, especially with the coming elections.

But in an online conference, Undersecretary and chairman of the DOE-Nuclear Energy Program Implementing Organization (DOE-NEPIO), Gerardo D. Erguiza, Jr., said moves to consider the viability of nuclear energy must be taken within the context of energy security, and not political considerations.

“Adopting a nuclear program is not just about constructing nuclear power plants. It is a matter of energy and national security. Should it be decided in the future that the Philippines is fit and finally ready to embark on its nuclear energy journey, then we would be able to look back and appreciate this landmark issuance,” Erguiza said.

Erguiza said a clear national policy must be established, which would withstand administration changes and the nuclear energy program (NEP) needs to be enacted into law to ensure strict adherence to all relevant standards.

He said NEP would be formulated under the guidance of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“To prevent the polarizing experiences of the past from being repeated, strong public consultation and information campaigns must be rolled out to promote scientific findings on the benefits of nuclear energy use,” Erguiza said.

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