DOE, DOST team up for disaster management

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (DOST-Phivolcs) have teamed up to strengthen disaster management capabilities of the energy sector.

The partnership will also be able to determine where critical power facilities, such as nuclear plants, can be viable.

Under the collaboration, the two agencies will enhance the capacity of the energy sector in terms of determining the areas of concern for earthquake incidents using their state-of-the-art software called Rapid Earthquake Damage Assessment System (REDAS).

A Filipino-made software, the REDAS is a tool for emergency preparedness, contingency planning and mainstreaming disaster risk reduction on the adverse effects of earthquakes.

The use of REDAS will benefit the energy sector by having near real-time simulated earthquake hazard information that can help assess the situation on the ground.

During the signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) yesterday, DOST undersecretary Renato Solidum cited the importance of REDAS as the Philippines is the third most disaster-prone country in the world.

Under the MOA, the DOE and Phivolcs would undertake and pursue intensive REDAS training, endeavor knowledge and resources sharing to complement each other on the implementation of the program, among other assistance and cooperation needed for the attainment of the goals and objectives to prepare the energy sector on possible earthquake hazards.

“What we lack in planning in the past years is to have a grasp of the enormity of the potential impact of a disaster before it happens. We need to be able to imagine based on science and technology and engineering,” Solidum said.

With the partnership, the government will be able to mitigate the impact of natural disasters as well as speed up rehabilitation and restoration, especially in the power sector.

The partnership is also in line with the DOE’s Department Circular No. 2018-01-0001 or the “Adoption of Energy Resiliency in the Planning and Programming of the Energy Sector to Mitigate Potential Impacts of Disasters” also known as the Energy Resiliency Policy.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the agency is aiming to promote energy resiliency after President Duterte made several pronouncements on improving the disaster resiliency of the country.

In particular, the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that happened in the Visayas last year exposed the vulnerability of the country’s energy systems.

“In an event like this, the department’s task is to ensure that energy services are restored at the soonest possible time. For this reason, we need all available tools and technologies to enhance our resiliency planning and implementation,” he said.

“Our partnership will bring us closer to achieving an energy sector that is sustainable and able to withstand and quickly recover from the impacts of human-induced and natural hazards,” he said.

Meanwhile, Solidum said the DOST has made available different products to determine the viability of the location for power facilities, nuclear plants in particular.

“If you want to build a nuclear plant, you can use REDAS to find the different hazards, whether there’s a fault or you can use the Phivolcs fault finder app,” he said.

The location of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), in particular, is safe based on assessment of the DOST.

“There was planning in the BNPP but there are many other issues. But focusing on locational hazards, the location of the BNPP is one of the safest,” Solidum said.

Nuclear experts – composed of Russian state-owned Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp., Slovenia’s Gen Enerjia and global engineering firm Worley Parsons – have said the BNPP can still be rehabilitated but the DOE will wait for the national nuclear policy before deciding whether it should proceed with the rehabilitation program.

The 620-megawatt BNPP was built during the Marcos administration to supply additional power by replacing aging power plants.

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

Proposals to operate the country’s only nuclear plant were 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 Japan in 2011.