Bishop: Turn Bataan Nuclear Power Plant into tourist spot instead

Instead of being revived as a source of power, the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant could be more useful if it were turned into a tourist spot.

The suggestion came from Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos, who said the BNPP could generate income as a tourist attraction, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said Sunday.

“It should not be repeated, and everything in the future should be studied well, not impulsively. This is also educational,” an article posted Sunday on the CBCP news site quoted Santos as telling Church-run Radio Veritas.

“I see nothing positive in the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, so I don’t believe rehabilitating it is such a good thing,” he added.

He said the BNPP, built in 1973 but never activated, is a white elephant and should serve as an expensive lesson to Filipinos.

“It is really a threat to the environment—to the bodies of water, the air, and the land. The soil will be poisoned, the water would be contaminated, and the air will be polluted,” he said. — Joel Locsin/JDS, GMA News