Duterte wants public consultation on Bataan Nuclear Power Plant

Palace said on Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte wants public consultations on the possible operation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

“Ang sabi po ng ating Presidente, kinakailangan talagang pag-aralan, ibalik sa ground level. Tatanungin ang taumbayan ng Bataan kung ano ba talagang gusto nila. Hindi pupuwede na sa taas nanggagaling ang desisyon,” Roque said at a news conference in Mariveles, Bataan.

In July, Duterte formed a committee that would study the possibility of operating the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant as an additional energy source for the country’s growing population and economy.

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Duterte signed Executive Order No. 116, which created the Nuclear Energy Program Interagency Committee. Department of Energy will lead the committee, with the Department of Science and Technology, as vice-chairperson.

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Bataan Nuclear Power Plant

Its 11 members include the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of the Interior and Local Government, National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Finance, National Power Corporation, Philippine Nuclear Research Institute and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, National Transmission Corporation, and Department of Foreign Affairs.

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The committee should submit an initial report on nuclear power to Duterte within six months or by January 2021.

“There is an imperative study need to revisit the country’s policy on nuclear energy and to determine its feasibility as a long term option for power generation,” the order read.

The Nuclear Energy Program Interagency Committee would evaluate and assess the need for and feasibility of introducing nuclear power into the Philippines’ energy sources while considering security, economic, and environmental factors.

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“I believe that once we have successfully addressed infrastructure gaps…, and we have fulfilled all other necessary national requirements, our people and future generations will reap the economic benefits a nuclear energy program brings,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said in a statement.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, said nuclear energy is dangerous and would not reduce the cost of power in the country. They instead pushed for more renewable energy sources.