2008-08-21 15:01:49 - Gordon vows to craft law that would allow construction of nuclear power plant

MABALACAT, Pampanga

With the looming power crisis in the country in the next two to three years, administration senator Richard Gordon on Thursday said he is willing to sponsor a law that would allow the construction and use of nuclear power in the Philippines.

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'I am making a law to allow it [nuclear power],' Gordon told reporters during the 50 megawatt coal-fired power

plant site inspection built by Formosa Heavy Industries in Barangay Dapdap, in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

Gordon stressed that while his primary concern is the environment, he is alarmed by the looming power shortage that will hit the country in 2010 if there will not be enough power plants to accommodate the rising demand.

'Obviously, the environment is my major concern,' Gordon asserted.

He noted that globally, the use of nuclear power as a source of energy is now being considered, thus it is time for the Philippines to consider it.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, in an earlier interview, noted that compared to other possible sources of renewable energy, nuclear is the cheapest since its generation cost is only .03 per kilowatt hour (kWh).

He said solar power amounts to .29/kWh and oil plants cost .07/kWh.

The 2007 data of the Department of Energy (DoE) also showed that construction cost for nuclear was placed at US$ 1.5 million per MW as compared to the investment for a geothermal plant valued at US$ 2 million per MW and an oil-fired plant which costs around US$ 1.6 million per MW.

Reyes, similarly said they are still studying the possibility of reviving the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) but have not made any decision yet.

'If we consider that option [on nuclear power use] we have to prepare first the feasibility study which would take two years and another five years for rehabilitation. So, we wont see this in the next seven years,' he noted.

Reyes said the nuclear option would allow the government to generate 620 MW of stable power supply in the next 30 years, but he said he wanted to make sure first that should the government opted for nuclear source of power, the issues and concerns are all properly addressed.

'We will not say go until it is not beneficial and until the concerns on environment [safety and dangers] are resolved,' he declared.

However, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in particular Bataan Bishop Socrates Villegas expressed opposition to the proposed revival of the BNPP.

'Should the nuclear power plant constructed on the Bataan peninsula, a peninsula lying on a major earthquake fault, be made operational, a nuclear accident will be a tragedy just waiting to happen to plunge the nation into a disaster in the likes of Chernobyl,' he lamented.

Constructed in 1976, the BNPP was built during the term of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in reaction to the energy crisis that hit the country in the 1970s.

The plant was valued at P21.2 billion and an interest rate of P1.06 billion at present.