PH nuclear power still widely opposed

By Alena Mae S. Flores – February 19, 2018 at 07:10 pm
from manilastandard.net

Social acceptance of nuclear power continues to be “very negative” driven by the “demonization”  of the fuel source from various sectors, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said Monday.

Cusi said the country’s economic landscape would have been vastly different if the government had pushed for the operation of the 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant which was completed but was never allowed to generate power.

“The injustice committed against the people…if we utilized it [BNPP], our economic landscape would have been different,” the energy chief said.

The Philippines was plunged into a power crisis lasting for several hours every day  in the early 1990s when the government decided to mothball BNPP on safety concerns.

Cusi said while BNPP could still be rehabilitated and repowered according to experts, the issue of social acceptability remained a challenge.

Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corp. and other international nuclear experts already presented to the department the results of the study on the 30-year old BNPP.