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Group says RP has enough safe energy alternatives


BAYOMBONG, Philippines - After being declared unsafe for 30 years, moves by both houses of congress to re-commission the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) has met stiff opposition from the Church and environmental watchdogs claiming that the plan will definitely imperil the country’s future. Senate Bill No. 2665, or the proposed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant Re-commissioning Act of 2008, is claimed "to revisit and utilize the nuclear power option" to address global warming and the "shortfall in the electric generating capacity of the country in 2012." A counterpart proposal in the House of Representatives, House Bill 4631, "An Act Mandating the Immediate Re-Commissioning and Commercial Operation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant," was introduced by Rep. Mark Cojuangco last July. Members of the Philippine Climate Watch Alliance (PCWA), who expressed discontent over the government’s planned re-opening of the mothballed nuclear plant, declared that there’s no need to endanger the lives of the people and the environment since the country have enough sustainable energy resources that can be tapped. "We have more than enough resources like hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and natural gas to meet our country's energy requirement and propel us to energy independence. There is not one valid reason for us to resort to nuclear energy," said PCWA spokesperson, Meggie Nolasco. The group pointed out that the BNPP will not address global warming as its proponents claim. "That the nuclear power plant will not emit greenhouse gases is a perverse lie. In addition to uranium ore being non-renewable, large amounts of carbon will be emitted due to the fuel that is needed to operate the plant," said renowned geologist Kelvin Rodolfo. According to PCWA, the re-commissioning will also uselessly spend needed funds for real and meaningful solutions to climate change and energy crisis. The construction and generating costs of nuclear power are far greater than most renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies around the world. Grease money works? Environmental group Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) also feared that grease money could be one of the factors why the government is bent on pursuing the project. "The most probable reason why the Arroyo government, particularly the Department of Energy, is reviving the nuclear option is that it is a multibillion dollar project where fat and grease money will come in from foreign energy corporations and international financial institutions," said Clemente Bautista of Kalikasan-PNE. "We just need to recall that Marcos and his cronies are estimated to have gotten $80 million in kickbacks. With the current administration, that is said to be the most corrupt and with many scams already under her name, the BNPP will just be another racket at the expense of the safety of our people and environment," Bautista said. Proven unsafe Believing that a nuclear plant is the answer to the worldwide energy crisis in 1973, former Philippine strongman President Ferdinand Marcos ordered the construction of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in 1976 at an initial cost of $600 million. When it was completed in 1984, the cost jacked up to $2.3 billion. It was built near major earthquake fault lines and close to the then dormant Pinatubo Volcano. Following the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the United States, construction on the BNPP was stopped, and a subsequent safety inquiry into the plant revealed over 4,000 defects. Even though the BNPP has never produced a single watt of electricity, the Filipino people still paid a total of Php120 billion for principal and interest since 1986, the same year when former President Corazon Aquino declared BNPP unsafe. Calls for the stoppage of the nuclear plant’s re-commissioning were earlier brought forward by Balanga, Bataan Bishop Socrates Villegas and Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo who said that the plan would be met with opposition. Villegas and Pabillo charged that the power plant poses undue risk to human life with the Bataan prelate remarking that a mere congressional act cannot make the BNPP safe. Pabillo, who heads the Episcopal Commission on Social Action-Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, revealed that the nuclear power plant’s geographical location sits at the foot of Mount Natib, a potentially active volcano. - GMANews.TV
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