Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
Foreign experts from
Russia and South Korea have rendered in their study outcomes that it is still
highly feasible to pursue rehabilitation of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power
Plant (BNPP), and the Department of Energy (DOE) wants to give it the ‘final shot’
albeit it is apprehensive of community approval to the project.
Energy Secretary
Alfonso G. Cusi admitted that social acceptance could probably be the
department’s biggest challenge, but they will still be putting their best foot
forward at securing it — just to put a closure as to the fate of the idled
nuclear facility.
The energy department
will be taking its BNPP rehabilitation blueprint cues on the studies undertaken
by Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) and Korea Hydro and
Nuclear Power (KHNP), of which results had been submitted to the Philippine
government last month.
“They (Rosatom and
KHNP) submitted and they said it (BNPP) can still be set for rehabilitation,”
he said.
But if the ultimate
journey for BNPP would be dissolution, Cusi noted that he intends to invite
electronic commerce whoppers Amazon and Alibaba as well as information
technology giant Google to have a look at the BNPP site for possible conversion
into data center.
“We can turn that into
data center, I want to convert it into something useful. Any possibilities can
happen. But if ever, I will have to talk to Amazon, or Google and Alibaba to
have that for data center because it is a very safe structure,” Cusi said.
For the meantime, Cusi
noted that they shall be basing their next steps on those study results of
nuclear experts from partner-countries; primarily on the sphere of securing
social acceptance on the project.
In fact, in many
countries that had taken their plunge on nuclear power, gaining community
approval often gobble up the longest duration in project gestation timeframes –
often lasting 7-10 years even for those in the developed world.
“I’m looking at the
community and the people – the bigger battle is the acceptance of the
community, by the community of the project,” Cusi stressed.
The energy chief noted
that other facets of the country’s ambition on ‘nuclear renaissance’ can be
done within his department’s control, such as policy formulation and the
complementing regulatory frameworks, even project cost allocation and fund
sourcing.
Nevertheless, if in the
end the host community would still reject proposals on BNPP’s repowering, then
that shall serve as his signal to finally terminate any plans for the facility,
and will just scour somewhere else for options, including turning that asset
into a data center or tourism hub.
“Assuming that the
province (Bataan) will not really agree to it (BNPP rehabilitation), then I
will look for an alternative because I need to put a closure on this thing
because all of us are paying for the cost,” Cusi said.
He qualified though
that the country’s nuclear power investment terrain shall not just be limited
to the BNPP, but will also cover prospective new builds and modular nuclear
facilities that the private sector may embark on.
He said their approach
will be to craft policies and regulation frameworks for the sector while also
working on probable community go-signal on the BNPP rehabilitation program.
At this stage though,
he noted that they will already cast timelines on targeted stakeholder
consultations at the community on the likelihood of BNPP’s restoration and
eventual operation.
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