DOE hopeful on BNPP fate

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) is hopeful the assessment by Russian and Slovenian experts on the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) will put a closure on the use of the only nuclear power plant in the country.

DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the foreign experts are inspecting the site of the nuclear plant to look at options on what can be done with the power plant.

“They don’t have recommendations yet, but based on their initial observation, BNPP’s facilities and structures are contrary to the views that they are substandard,” he said.

A consortium composed of Russian state-owned Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp., Slovenia’s Gen Enerjia and global engineering firm Worley Parsons went to Bataan last August to do the assessment on the BNPP for free.

The assessment, which will be crucial in forming the country’s nuclear position, is part of the memorandum of cooperation signed by President Duterte and Cusi and their counterparts when they visited Russia last May.

Pending the recommendation of the experts, Cusi said the DOE has yet to answer what will be done to the BNPP.

“As the authority, we have to put a closure to it. Are we going to proceed and make it a nuclear power plant? If we are not going to operate it as a nuclear power plant, then what are we going to do with the structure? What are we going to do with the property?” he said.

If the DOE will proceed with the BNPP rehabilitation, it will entail replacement of existing machineries. It will also have to hurdle through opposition on the use of nuclear power in the country.

“What we want is acceptance of the community, as long as there is a community, province, willing to host it,” Cusi said.

If the BNPP will not be operated, the DOE will also have to find other options on the facility’s use, which include using it as a bomb shelter, library, hotel or data center, Cusi said.

The Philippines – through Nuclear Energy Program Implementing Organization (NEPIO) – is working on completing an assessment based on the 19 issues laid down by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the country’s readiness for a nuclear program before the end of the year.

Built during the Marcos administration, the 620-megawatt (MW) BNPP was supposed to supply additional power by replacing ageing power plants.

However, it was not operated when the late president Corazon Aquino took over the presidency, which caused widespread brownouts during the late ’80s and early ’90s.

Proposals to operate the country’s only nuclear plant was thumbed down due to strong opposition from environmental and cause-oriented groups over safety concerns. The country further went on undeclared moratorium for nuclear power plants following the Fukushima incident in 2011.