Groups slam plan to revive nuclear plant

MANILA, Philippines - Scientists and environmental activists picketed the House of Representatives Wednesday to denounce moves to revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), which was declared unsafe 30 years ago by former President Corazon Aquino. The bill seeking to recommission the plant is authored by Rep. Mark Cojuangco, son of businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr., and Rep. Mikey Arroyo. The legislators, along with South Korean company Kepco, have pegged the cost of rehabilitation of the plant at around $1 billion. "This is anomalous," warned Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment. "A nuclear project, judged before as defective and corrupt, is being propped up again as a safe and reliable energy source by big-time politicians and wealthy families in the country. This would be another milking cow for traditional politicians and corrupt government officials in Malacañang." The construction of BNPP started in 1976 during the Marcos martial law era, but it was shelved after three years because an independent inquiry discovered enormous defects in the plant. "We cannot imagine how the new proponents can make the BNPP safe," Bautista said. "Its technology is almost obsolete. The plant lies on Mount Natib, a volcano, and is also near major fault lines, making it susceptible to earthquakes and other seismic activities. At the same time, nuclear power is an extremely dangerous technology, producing volumes of toxic and radioactive wastes, not to mention vulnerable to terrorist attacks." The Philippine Climate Watch Alliance (PCWA), meanwhile, contested the idea of reviving the plant to address climate change. "BNPP's revival, being packaged by the Arroyo government as solution to climate change, is ridiculous," PCWA spokesperson Meggie Nolasco said. "A nuclear power plant employs energy-intensive and fossil-dependent industries such as uranium mining, construction and decommissioning of nuke facilities, processing, transport and storage of radioactive wastes, all of which involves carbon emission." "Representative Cojuangco wants us to believe that an energy crisis in 2012 necessitates the revival of BNPP," Dr. Giovanni Tapang, chairperson of scientists' group Agham said. "The same reason was used by President Marcos when he justified the construction of BNPP during the oil crisis in 1973. Even if it is true, the Bataan nuke is not the apt solution to the country's energy problems." "There is no question of the need to be energy independent," Tapang added. "We can do that by harnessing our indigenous and sustainable energy resources. But as long as the Arroyo government continues to auction and privatize our energy facilities and resources to private and foreign companies, like what they are doing with BNPP and other power plants, the problem on energy will remain." - GMANews.TV