(The Philippine Star) | Updated October 12, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines –
The Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands (CCPI), the country’s first
and oldest business group, is batting for the use of nuclear power and of the
mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) to address issues in power supply
and high cost of electricity as well as to support the country’s economic
development.
In a forum yesterday,
CCPI president president Jose Luis Yulo Jr. said the business group is backing
the proposal to add nuclear power in the energy mix and operate BNPP.
“With the spiraling
high cost of energy in the country, our organization supports the operation of
the 620-megawatt (MW) BNPP to accelerate the economic progress of the Philippines
through industrialization,” he said.
In the position paper
on nuclear energy, CCPI said the index poverty and unemployment in the country
remains high and the only solution to this create jobs “is by massive
industrialization and agricultural development.”
“For this to become a
reality in the Philippines, the cost of electricity must be brought down in the
shortest possible time through nuclear energy. It is the earnest hope of the
chamber that this policy recommendation be brought to the attention and
political will of President Rodrigo Duterte,” it said.
Built in the 1980s,
BNPP was supposed to operate commercially in 1986 but was mothballed due to
strong opposition from environmental and cause-oriented groups over safety
concerns and reports former president Ferdinand Marcos received about $80
million in kickbacks from builder Westinghouse.
The power facility is
still being maintained by the National Power Corp. (Napocor) with a cost of P50
million since then and more recently, P27 million a year under the Aquino
administration.
In the same forum,
Department of Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato de la Peña stressed
the country’s need for energy and a good mix to fuel energy targets.
“We are open to
technologies as long as it will benefit the country but the final decision will
be an apolitical one,” he said.
Nuclear is among the
options for baseload power as the Department of Energy (DOE) works on
projecting energy capacities up to 2030, DOE Undersecretary Jesus Posadas said.
“We’re looking at the
power mix and basically the power mix is to address the economic growth
especially the industrialization aspiration of the President,” he said.
As the country recently
hosted a three-day international nuclear energy conference, the Duterte administration
revived plans of tapping nuclear energy as an alternative option in meeting the
country’s growing energy requirements as well as to power up the country’s
economic progress.
Energy Secretary
Alfonso Cusi earlier said nuclear is seen as a viable choice because it is high
on productivity and reliability, low on cost and emissions, and more cost
efficient in the long term.
However, he admitted
that going nuclear would need a lot of work to be done.
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