Over a year since a magnitude 9 earthquake spawned a tsunami with waves up to 133 feet high, devastating coastal areas in northeastern Japan, the country still has not fully contained the meltdown in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Japan, which relied on nuclear power for a third of its energy needs, shut down late last month its 53rd reactor since the meltdown, leaving just one left before it indefinitely suspends its use of nuclear energy. With residents refusing to allow the reopening of the reactors, the country is now shifting to fossil fuels for its energy needs.
Following the Fukushima meltdown, industrial giant Germany shut down seven of its oldest reactors and later announced the phase-out of all its nuclear plants by 2022. Similar moves are underway in many other countries that rely heavily on nuclear energy. The meltdown in Fukushima, in one of the most technologically advanced and safety-conscious countries, showed that the worst fears about the civilian uses of nuclear energy could materialize.
No existing nuclear reactor, anywhere in the world, is built to withstand a Magnitude 9 earthquake. The most vulnerable are reactors built in countries such as Japan that lie in the so-called Ring of Fire – an area that is prone to volcanic eruptions and powerful movements of the Earth that can spawn cataclysmic tsunamis.
Like Japan, the Philippines lies in the Ring of Fire. This obviously did not matter to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos when he approved the construction of a nuclear power plant in Bataan by Westinghouse, reportedly in exchange for a multimillion-dollar kickback. Filipino taxpayers have paid billions of dollars over several decades for debt incurred to finance the construction of the nuclear plant, long since mothballed.
Now, just after the first anniversary of the Japan earthquake, certain quarters are using the power crisis in Mindanao to push for nuclear energy in the Philippines. The principal proponents are mostly people with the means to pack their bags at the first sign of trouble and leave the country ASAP in case of a meltdown.
As the Bataan nuclear plant showed, building such a facility takes years, and surely will not provide the immediate relief from energy woes that Mindanao currently needs. Nuclear energy is not just unpredictable and dangerous but also expensive: Japan under its nuclear energy regime had the highest power rates in Asia. President Aquino should thumb down this proposal before it blows up, like the Fukushima reactor, in his face.