IAEA rep to conduct workshop on nuclear energy

MANILA, Philippines - UN-sanctioned International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will send a team to the Philippines next month for a workshop on the prospects of developing nuclear power plants in the country and help power regulators craft a bill on nuclear energy, a Department of Energy (DOE) official said.

“By end-March, representatives from the IAEA will conduct a workshop here. We may also get an input from them on the proposed drafting of a bill on nuclear energy development,” Department of Energy Undersecretary Raul Aguilos said in an interview on the sidelines of a recent Euromoney forum.

IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on July 29, 1957.

An IAEA delegation of nuclear experts from Japan, Brazil, Romania and Australia visited the Philippines in 2008 to conduct a study on the then proposed rehabilitation of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

The DOE has revived interest on the possibility of developing nuclear power plants amid the impending lack of power supply and soaring electricity prices.

Aguilos said they have made the development of nuclear power facilities an option in solving the power supply problem in the country.

“This will take a long time to develop, about five to 10 years. But we want to make it as part of our option. First step is social acceptance that is why we are starting off with the possible drafting of a bill to establish a legal framework. So if we decide to build a nuclear power facility, the framework is already there,” he said.

Aguilos pointed out that while the DOE has already included nuclear energy development as one of its options to augment power supply shortage in the country, President Aquino has yet to firm up a policy direction on this matter.

“It’s one of the cleanest forms and sources of power. All first world countries have them. We just want to make it part of our option,” he said.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla was earlier quoted as saying that one of their goals is to come up with a decision on the fate of the controversial BNPP by the end of the Aquino administration.

“Whether it be mothballed, activated or scrapped totally, my thrust is this administration will decide on it,” he said.

The DOE is now studying the use of the BNPP, taking into consideration its social, technical and financial impact.

The study would also include looking at the best way to operate the plant and whether it would be bid out to the private sector. “Whoever would operate it, the question is safety,” the DOE chief said.