By Lenie Lectura - August 30, 2017
NUCLEAR-POWER experts from firms in
Russia and Slovania are assessing the chances of a possible revival of the
mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).
The Department of Energy (DOE)
said on Wednesday representatives of the Rosatom State Atomic Energy
Corp., the regulatory body of the Russian nuclear complex, and Slovania’s Gen
Energija, are in the country “to make a preliminary assessment of the possibility
and viability of rehabilitating the plant.”
“The DOE Nepio [Nuclear Energy
Programme Implementing organization], headed by Energy Undersecretary Donato
Marcos, together with representatives from the Philippine Nuclear Research
Institute [PNRI] and NPC [National Power Corp.], started the kick-off
meeting with representatives from Russia’s Rosatom, Slovenia’s Gen Enerjia and
internationally known nuclear firm Worley Parsons at the NPC Nuclear Village in
Bagac, Bataan, on August 30,” an advisory from the agency stated.
The activity will define the scope
of work for the prefeasibility study of the possible rehabilitation of BNPP.
According to the agency, the study is being provided by Rosatom for free as
part of the cooperation between the Philippines and Russia.
Seven working groups have been
established to undertake the study, which would start next month. The conduct
of a study will take two months.
The 620-megawatt (MW) BNPP is the
country’s first and only attempt at nuclear-power development. It was supposed
to be the first of two nuclear plants to be built in the northern province of
Bataan. It was also the first nuclear power plant in Southeast Asia, and was
identified as a solution to the 1973 oil crisis that had adversely affected the
global economy, including the Philippines.
The project, however, was mothballed
in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. But clamor for the reopening of
the BNPP was revived during the power crisis in the 1990s and the skyrocketing
oil prices in 2007.
During these periods, the DOE
actually came close to reconsidering nuclear power as a potential energy source
for the country.
But then the Fukushima nuclear-plant
incident occurred in 2011, creating global panic and concerns about the safety
and integrity of nuclear plants.
In March the DOE identified Sulu as
among the areas being eyed for a modular nuclear-power plant, with a
capacity of 100 MW at most.
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