President Rodrigo Duterte formed a committee that would study the possibility of operating nuclear power plants as an additional energy source for the country’s growing population and economy.
Duterte signed Executive Order No. 116 Wednesday, 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.
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.
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 experience of a number of countries has shown that nuclear power can be a reliable, cost-competitive, and environment-friendly energy source,” the EO stated.
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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.
“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.
“Contrary to (Energy) Secretary (Alfonso) Cusi’s misguided expectation, nuclear will actually cost us so much, including sourcing fuel, expertise, and technologies, all of which will have to be imported overseas, from planning to operations,” said Khevin Yu, campaigner at Greenpeace, last May.
“That’s aside from the huge cost of dealing with the inherent safety risks and disasters associated with nuclear power plants,” he had said.