SINO ANG NAGPATAYO NG BNPP?
Ang Plantang Nukleyar sa Bataan ay sinimulang itayo noong 1976 at nakumpleto noong 1984. Ito ay ipinagawa ni Pangulong Marcos upang matugunan ang kakulangan sa enerhiya at suplay ng kuryente noong dekada ‘70. Ang pagpapatayo ng planta ay nagkahalagang 2.3 bilyong dolyares. Ito ay matatagpuan sa Bataan, mga kilometrong layo sa Maynila. Ito ay dinisenyo upang magtustos ng mahigit 600 megawatt ng kuryente, subalit hindi nagamit ang plantang ito ni minsan, dahil sa iba’t-ibang mga kadahilanan. Nakumpleto ng pamahalaan noong Abril 2007 ang pagbabayad sa utang ng bansa sa pagpapatayo ng planta. Ang pagbabayad ng utang, na may kasamang interes at implasyon (“inflation”), ay natapos mahigit 30 taon matapos sinimulan ang pagpapatayo ng planta. Ang plantang ito marahil ang naging pinakamalaking pinagkagastusan ng pamahalaan na napunta sa wala dahil sa hinarang ito ni cory aquino at pinulitika ito.
ANO ANG DAHILAN AT ITINAYO ANG BNPP?
Ang Plantang Nukleyar sa Bataan ay sinimulan dahil sa krisis sa langis noong 1973, na siyang nagdulot ng kakulangan sa enerhiya sa Pilipinas. Napagdesisiyunan ni dating Pangulong Marcos na ang solusyon sa problemang sobrang pagdepende sa langis ay ang pagkakaroon ng alternatibong pinagmumulan ng enerhiya – isang plantang nukleyar. Noong 1979, nagkaroon ng aksidenteng nukleyar sa Pennsylvania, Estados Unidos, kung kaya’t pansamantalang natigilan ang pagtatayo sa planta. Nagkaroon ng mga pagbabago sa mga plano sa plantang nukleyar sa Bataan upang maiwasan ang isang aksidenteng katulad ng nangyari sa Estados Unidos. Pinagpatuloy ang pagpapatayo ng planta noong Hunyo 1981 at natapos ito noong 1984. Matapos ang ilang mga inspeksyon at matapos ang pagpapadala ng mga iba pang pangangailangan para sa operasyon, handa na itong ipapatakbo noong Pebrero 1985. Sa orihinal na plano, ang tinayang halaga ng pagpapatayo ay nasa 600 milyong dolyares, subalit ito ay lumobo sa 2.3 bilyong dolyares.
SINO ANG NAGPATIGIL SA OPERASYON NG BNPP AT ANO ANG DAHILAN NITO?
Noong sumiklab ang rebolusyon sa EDSA noong 1986 at nang nagsimula ang administrasyong Aquino, isa sa mga unang naganap ay ang pagdedesisyon na huwag ilagay sa operasyon ang plantang nukleyar sa Bataan. Ang isa sa mga pangunahing dahilan dito ay ang malaking aksidenteng nukleyar na nangyari sa Chernobyl noong Abril 25, 1986. Subalit nakiusap si Pangulong Marcos kay Cory na buksan ito dahil ang BNPP ang magiging sandigan ng bansa lalo na sa pagpapalago sa Pilipinas, pero di ito pinakinggan ni cory dahi ayaw daw niya maalala ng mga Pilipino ang mga Marcos kaya't ipinagbawal ang BNPP at pinulitika ito.
9 Benefits of BNPP
1 Operating the BNPP will allow us to save foreign exchange.
2 BNPP will result in cheap electricity.
3 It is strategically more secure because the physical volume of needed fuel every 18 months is quite small.
4 Nuclear energy is clean, and thus, good for the environment.
5 Nuclear energy saves lives.
6 Cheap electricity is a powerful anti-poverty agent. Our per capita KWh consumption is one of the lowest in the region. This defines us as poor. Electricity is an enabler if people are able to afford and use it for their benefit, including livelihood. If it is too expensive, electricity cannot be maximized by people. Let us make electricity cheap so people can benefit more, and make lives better from it.
Since the BNPP will make electricity significantly cheaper for those who will use it, expenses will be less, and there will be more electricity that can be used to enable them to earn. Cheap electricity will make our country competitive because at present, electricity cost here is among the highest in the world. It is a disincentive to possible investors resulting in opportunity loss for us.
7 Nuclear will address shortage of power supply. We are perennially under threat of power supply shortages. We see it manifested in Meralco’s announcements of variously colored alerts. This is an abnormal situation unheard of in other countries. The shortage results in brownouts that have become “normal” in some parts of the country. Needless to say, brownouts wreak havoc on businesses, our primary source of jobs. Also, they cause major inconvenience in our personal lives. Such need not happen if we have given nuclear energy a chance to be used by our people.
Moreover, the National Economic and Development Authority says that the country will need to double our power supply capacity by 2030. To further complicate the problem, our current fleet is already old and unreliable. Soon they will need replacing. If we are not ready, power supply shortage will be a much bigger problem.
Using nuclear energy, as already shown by the experience of other countries, will result in abundant capacity with adequate reserves to roll us through crisis and emergencies.
8 Using nuclear power and operating the BNPP will enable us to get away from the negative effects of dirty and harmful energy. Every fossil fuel plant we build today ties us to that fossil fuel plant for at least 40 years more with its attendant emissions, pollution, and expense. This delays our move away from expensive and pollution-causing fossil fuels.
As already said, nuclear energy is clean energy that emits nothing. It cannot harm people and our environment. If we are concerned with global warming and climate change, and we want to lower Carbon Dioxide (CO2), then we cannot be against nuclear power. It is the way to go because there simply is no other low/no carbon technology like nuclear.
9 BNPP is a valuable and high-quality asset. It is unwise and wasteful to keep it idle when it can benefit our country, our people. The BNPP was built by Westinghouse, a most reliable company that will not attach its name to something that is of questionable quality. Those concerned about the BNPP’s age need not worry because it has three identical sisters abroad that remain operational and award winners for uptime and efficiency. It is no longer credible to just say that BNPP is a lousy and defective plant. The evidence to the contrary is just overwhelming.
Those concerned about what happened in Fukushima should know that the BNPP is extremely safe. It is at twice the seismic design basis compared with Fukushima. Moreover, BNPP’s location is three times the elevation of Fukushima. This means that a tsunami, unlike what happened in Japan, would not even wet the BNPP. Fukushima survived the intensity 9 earthquake well and it was built with only a 0.18G seismic design basis. BNPP’s 0.40 design basis which is more than twice as strong will easily survive a 9 quake and most probably, a much stronger one.
President Marcos message to Cory Aquino:
"Ang kabilin-bilinan ko kay Mrs. Corazon Aquino na ipatuloy ang Bataan Nuclear Plant kung maaari. Sapagkat, this is the solution in meeting the country’s energy demands and decreasing dependence on imported oil. Ngunit ayaw niyang tanggapin ang aking mongkahe dahil maaalala daw ng taong bayan si Marcos habang nandyaan ang Nuclear Power Plant. Anong klaseng pag iisip yan? Iyan ay paghihigante, huwag natin idamay ang sambayanang Pilipino. Balang araw makikita ninyo, 20 years from now bagsak na ang Pilipinas.” ~ Ferdinand Marcos, Hawaii, 1987.