December 5, 2017
THE Department of Energy (DoE) has
committed to come up with a national position on nuclear energy before the end
of the year, an official of the agency said on Monday.
“It’s a national position not a
national policy,” Energy Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos said in a press
conference at the DoE headquarters on Monday.
He said the country’s stand would
include whether the Bataan nuclear power plant is to be rehabilitated, or if
not, an advice on the “best use” for the facility.
Mr. Marcos is the designated
chairman of the DoE’s Nuclear Energy Program Implementing Office (Nepio), which
was set up specifically to come up with the country’s policy on nuclear energy.
Nepio is also expected to come up
with the department’s stand on whether to allow the building of a nuclear plant
in the Philippines.
Mr. Marcos said the national
position is a product of consultations with experts, including those coming
from Russia and Slovenia, which made a preliminary assessment of the
possibility and viability of rehabilitating the Bataan nuclear power plant.
Together with the Philippine Nuclear
Research Institute and the National Power Corp., Mr. Marcos brought
representatives from Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp. and Slovenia’s
Gen Enerjia to the “nuclear village” in Bagac, Bataan. Australian energy
engineering form WorleyParsons Ltd. also joined the inspection of the facility.
He has said that the activity will
define the scope of work for the pre-feasibilty study of the possible
rehabilitation of the nuclear plant.
The DoE said the feasibility study
to be conducted by Rosatom is free of charge as part of the cooperation between
the Philippines and Russia.
The Bataan plant’s construction
began in 1976, but was stopped after the Three Mile Island accident in the US
in 1979. — Victor V. Saulon
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