Cusi keen on completing PH nuclear policy

By Myrna M. Velasco – March 2, 2020, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin

Even on a backdrop of a threatening power crisis, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi indicated that one of the energy policy agendas he is keen on completing under this administration will be the State’s “national position” on nuclear power plant development.

“We already submitted our ‘national position’…The President has been discerning into what is really good for the country,” the energy chief said, when asked why Malacañang’s approval process has been taking too long.

Once President Rodrigo Duterte extends his go-signal on the Department of Energy-designed nuclear power policy, Cusi noted that the next steps will be for them to work with Congress on the legal and regulatory frameworks for this technology installation.

He emphasized that at least under this administration, the policy will be cemented; then the next government leadership will just do follow-through initiatives on the actual implementation and construction of nuclear power projects.

This year, the energy department has been intensifying its pitch for nuclear power development as it opines that this is a way forward for the country’s long-term energy security.

Cusi said “the time is ripe for intensified and informed public discussions on nuclear energy and its potential role in our energy security agenda.”

The energy chief is aware that eyebrows are being raised on his proclivity for nuclear power, but he stressed that his forthright response to critics will be “why not?”

Opening up debates and public discourse on nuclear power development, he said, is well anchored on a “favorable turnout” of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that the department has commissioned last year.

Relative to the recommended repowering of the mothballed 600-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), Cusi cited that 79-percent of respondents had given affirmative vote to it; while proposals to build new nuclear energy facilities had been bestowed an approval rating of 65-percent.

Cusi said such survey results “are positive indicators on the acceptability of nuclear energy,” with him adding that “respondents are aware that nuclear energy possesses both benefits and risks.”

The energy secretary added that about 70-percent of respondents also voted favorably on the allocation of government funds for the construction of a nuclear power plant.

Cusi qualified though that definitive development framework as well as regulations are still a work-in-progress when it comes to the country’s nuclear power ambitions – and these are among the key topics that must be fleshed out in public debates relating to this technology option.

“Considering the potential of safely utilizing nuclear energy for our power needs doesn’t mean that nuclear power plants will immediately come out of the woodwork,” Cusi averred.

He pointed out “the entire process will take time, especially since we are still at the stage of addressing the 19 infrastructure issues needed in developing a national nuclear power program.”