Revisiting the nuclear power option

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has been reported to have defended the government’s plan to revive the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) to meet the Philippines’ energy needs with forecast demand and reserve requirement expected to double to 30,189 megawatts (MW) by 2030. He expressed his view at a Senate hearing chaired by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who said, “The hard fact is that even while nuclear power is unpopular, we’re looking at it, we’re studying it. It’s an option.”

I could not agree more about the essence, timing, and venue of Secretary Cusi’s announcement.

Hence, I thought of taking this opportunity to revisit and share the views that I expressed in an article that I wrote four years ago, “The Nuclear Power Option” that was published in a broadsheet in May 2012 where I said that in spite of the Fukushima incident, Japan will not permanently close its door to the development and use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes, particularly for generating electricity. In the same manner, I also stated that China and South Korea will not abandon their program of harnessing nuclear energy for electric power generation.

They will continue to harness and use nuclear power for generating electricity to remain economically strong and competitive in the world. At the same time, they will vigorously find ways and means to improve the technical and operational safety aspects of their nuclear systems.

True enough, no less than the World Nuclear Association (WNA) reported that Japan, China and South Korea are increasing their nuclear power capabilities by actually constructing and planning to construct more nuclear power plants for generating electricity.

Japan’s first commercial nuclear power reactor began operating in mid-1966, and nuclear energy has been a national strategic priority since 1973. The country’s 50-plus main reactors have provided some 30% of the country’s electricity and this is expected to increase to at least 40% by 2017. Currently, 42 reactors are operable and potentially able to restart, and 24 of these are in the process of restart approvals. The first two restarted in August and October 2015.

Likewise, WNA reported that mainland China has 35 nuclear power reactors in operation, 20 under construction, and more about to start construction. Additional reactors are planned, to give a doubling of nuclear capacity to at least 58 by 2020-21, then up to 150 by 2030, and much more by 2050. The impetus for increasing nuclear power share in China is increasingly due to air pollution from coal-fired plants. China’s policy is to have a closed nuclear fuel cycle. China has become largely self-sufficient in reactor design and construction, as well as other aspects of the fuel cycle, but is making full use of western technology while adapting and improving it. China’s policy is to go global with exporting nuclear technology including heavy components in the supply chain.

South Korea, according to WNA, is also a major world nuclear country exporting technology. At present it is building four nuclear reactors in UAE, under a $20 billion contract. Twenty-five reactors provide about one-third of electricity. Nuclear energy remains its strategic priority and capacity is planned to increase by 70% to 38 plants by 2029.

We are a country that experiences one of the highest, if not the highest cost of producing electricity in comparison with our Asian neighbors like China, South Korea and Japan, which make use of their nuclear power option. 

The private sector power providers in our country are understandably focused on supplying electricity to densely populated metropolitan areas with the primary purpose of achieving fast returns on their investments.

On the other hand, the objective of our government is more than just making profits, but rather, it envisions to undertake expeditious planning and execution of sound economic development programs towards the transformation of the countryside into productive states, be globally competitive, attract more investors, and create more jobs that are aimed and designed to improve the way and quality of life of the people.

The fact that it takes 10 years or more before a nuclear-power plant is rendered operational is more reason for the country to prioritize a national program for harnessing nuclear energy for generating electricity at the earliest time possible in addition to using coal, solar, wind, hydro, fossils, and other renewable sources of energy.

The Philippines is an archipelagic country that is composed of more than 7,000 islands with large underdeveloped and sparsely populated areas some portions of which are suited to establishing and operating nuclear power plants for generating electricity in cooperation with foreign partners.

Developed countries have experienced that the nuclear power option has been proven effective and economical in the long run in producing electricity, and at the same time, it causes less pollution to the environment.

(The author is a governor and co-chairman of the Disaster Management and Services Committee of the Philippine Red Cross; vice president for Mindanao and chairman of the Committee on Peace and Development of the Constitution Association of the Philippines (PHILCONSA)