BNPP site geologically unsafe, says UP study

MANILA, Philippines - A recent study conducted by a group of geologists from the University of the Philippines-Diliman found that Napot Point, where the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) is located, is not geologically safe and at risk from many volcanic hazards.

Alfredo Mahar Francisco Lagmay, a professor at the National Institute of Geological Sciences at UP-Diliman, yesterday said their study found several volcanic hazards at the BNPP site.

Lagmay said Napot Point is located along the southwestern portion of Mt. Natib, a potentially active volcano in Bataan.

“Natib is considered a capable volcano,” Lagmay said in a roundtable discussion on geological hazard of the southwestern section of Natib volcano at the Traders Hotel in Pasay City the other day.

Among the volcanic hazards identified in the BNPP site were lava and pyroclastic flows, pyroclastic surge and lahar, Lagmay said.

“Among the hazards identified, lava flows and pyroclastic density currents are within the screening distance value, the maximum distance from the source to the site at which the volcanic phenomenon could be a hazard,” the study said.

“Of all the volcanic hazards identified from deposits at southwest Natib volcano, pyroclastic density current and lava flows do not have any engineering solutions. Lahar hazards, however, can be addressed by engineering design,” it said.

The study found that pyroclastic density currents generated by eruptions could affect the BNPP site based on numerical models.

“In the case of the BNPP, the area is underlain by deposits of pyroclastic flows and surges and lahars. Lava deposits and an eruptive center are also proximal to the BNPP site,” the study said.

Lagmay said active faults were also mapped in the southwest sector of Natib.

Lagmay is one of authors of the study titled “Geological Hazards of Southwestern Natib Volcano, Site of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant,” which was conducted from May 2009 to January 2010.

Lagmay noted that when the BNPP was built in the 1970s, the planning of nuclear power facilities did not involve well-established, internationally accepted guidelines to set criteria and procedures for assessing potential volcanic hazards.

The power plant’s construction began in 1976 and was temporarily suspended in 1979 following the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. Construction was resumed later but before it was activated, the nuclear plant was mothballed in 1986.

In 2008, a bill mandating the immediate re-commissioning and commercial operation of the BNPP was filed in Congress.