Monday, September 19, 2016

DoE official urges thorough study on nuclear plant



Posted on September 19, 2016

DISCUSSIONS on atomic energy for the country should include coming up with a national policy on nuclear energy and specific steps on how the Bataan nuclear power plant can be revived, an energy official said.

“There are more things to be done,” said Felix William B. Fuentebella, spokesperson and designated undersecretary at the Department of Energy (DoE), after officials of the agency took a took a tour of the Bataan facility on Friday along with legislators.

“First I realized... that we have to divide the discussions about the [nuclear] policy and the [Bataan] project,” he said in Filipino.

“As far as policy is concerned we have to know what the challenges are, what the rules are, who the regulator would be, how the international community would be for us to have a nuclear energy program for the country,” he said.

“And based on those policies that we will create, what should we do with the projects, including the one that we already have, the Bataan nuclear power plant,” he added.

On the Bataan project, he said 19 items should be cleared first before the plant could be revived, including the position of the national government, a regulatory framework, financing and safeguards.

For his part, Mauro L. Marcelo, Jr., department manager of the National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) asset preservation department, said these items should be considered in every nuclear infrastructure building.

The complete list covers emergency planning, handling of nuclear waste, stakeholder involvement, management, procurement, legal framework, radiation protection, human resource development, security and physical protection, nuclear fuel cycle, environmental protection, site and supporting facilities, electrical grid and industrial involvement.

“The more that we are looking into it, the more that we have to be detailed and very circumspect in approaching this matter and explaining them to the public, the stakeholders,” Mr. Fuentebella said.

The plant stands on a 356-hectare land on a small peninsula on the west coast of Morong, Bataan. The site, which is 18 meters above sea level, was chosen after a selection process that took around 11 years.

Mr. Marcelo said the plant’s legal basis is traced back to the late ’60s with the passage of Republic Act 5207 or the “Atomic Energy Regulatory and Liability Act of 1968,” which provided authority to then Philippine Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) -- now Philippine Nuclear Research Institute -- to issue the license for the construction, possession and operation of any atomic energy facility.

In Oct. 1976, the Napocor filed for a provisional permit to have the plant built, leading to a regulatory review process that took more than two years and paved the way for the issuance of the construction permit.

When the Three Mile island nuclear accident happened in March 1979, the Bataan construction was suspended. It was resumed only after an investigative committee cleared its safety.

The plant was “essentially completed” by July 1985, Mr. Marcelo said, but the planned start of commercial operation in December 1985 did not happen.

A change in government took place in 1986, amid the political tensions at the time. It was the same year of the Chernobyl accident.

PAEC stopped regulatory activities over the plant in August that year after Napocor withdrew its application for an operating license. The plant would have produced around 620 MW of power.

Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on energy, doubts the soundness of the Bataan plant as he suggested an alternative use for its location -- its conversion into a facility for liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito said his perception about the plant had changed after his previous visit, noting that the facility was well-maintained. He said he had filed a resolution during the 17th Congress to reconsider the use or conversion of the Bataan power plant.

Mr. Fuentebella said as far as a nuclear policy is concerned, it would take an interaction between the legislative and executive branches of government.

“So dapat mabilis depende rin sa mga senators natin kung how fast they want this. (This should be fast, depending on the senators -- how fast they want this.)” he added.

He described the opposing views among legislators about the plant as “normal.”

“The good thing is we’re talking about it and we are maintaining this so we have to decide how we will approach this,” he said.

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