Lawmakers eye state-funded studies of BNPP

MANILA, Philippines - Lawmakers are eyeing the conduct of comprehensive state-funded studies of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) amid various sectors’ protest against the mothballed plant’s rehabilitation. During the hearing of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman announced that he, along with Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III and Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros, had submitted two possible amendments to the bill filed by Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco which pushes for the plant’s rehabilitation and use. Lagman said the first option was to amend Cojuangco’s bill with a substitute measure that orders the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to conduct studies on the feasibility of various electricity generation options. Funds for the "complete technical, economic, environmental, and financial feasibility studies comparing the options for electricity generation" would be sourced from the national budget, Quirino Rep. Junie Cua, Appropriations Committee chair, said. The second option proposed by the three legislators, Cua said, was to amend Sections 21 and 22 of the Cojuangco bill. The proposal includes a P10-million allocation, which will be sourced from Napocor and Department of Energy (DOE) funds, for the creation of a task force that will conduct a feasibility study on the plant’s rehabilitation and use. Cojuango however noted that he had already made amendments to his bill allowing for a "validation process" that would either affirm or reject the soundness of rehabilitating and using the mothballed plant. The amended version provides that the BNPP be immediately demolished for "salvage value recovery" should the "validation process" show adverse findings, Cojuangco said. Divisiveness "I think the title will make the bill now more acceptable even to oppositor groups," Cojuangco said, as he maintained that the country should invest in nuclear power amid a looming electric crisis. But Bataan Gov. Enrique "Tet" Garcia, who was also present during the hearing, said reviving the mothballed plant would only create "divisiveness," not to mention threaten the safety of Bataan residents. Garcia said that based on his "conservative estimate," the country’s losses due to the BNPP had already reached $27.6 billion or P1.38 trillion, including interest accumulated over the years, supposed profit that was not acquired, and opportunity losses. Garcia asked lawmakers "not to commit the same mistake" by reviving the plant, which was closed down in 1986 due to safety concerns such as its proximity to two volcanoes, its supposed location above a fault line, and radiation that may possibly escape into the atmosphere. "I implore this committee not to commit the same mistake again by rehabilitating the BNPP without first consulting our people on the readiness this time to go nuclear," said the governor. "Any economic benefit that we will derive, although how large, from rehabilitating this nuclear plant will be offset and more by the divisiveness that it could cause our people." The committee could not vote on the proposed amendments as there was no quorum, but lawmakers instructed environmentalist Nicanor Perlas to disclose to the committee on Thursday the title of a study showing that the plant has thousands of defects so the committee could access and analyze it. During the hearing, Perlas said there was a $9.5 million study by 50 nuclear experts from different parts of the world on the mothballed plant showing that the plant has 40,000 defects. He said copies of the study could be found at the Senate and Office of the President. Perlas, however, was barred by Cojuangco from disclosing further details on the study until a copy of it had been produced. Cojuangco said Perlas' statements were mere "hearsay" until the committee actually could get hold of the study. In a statement distributed to reporters after the hearing, Perlas, a former technical consultant to the Senate Ad Hoc committee on the BNPP and the Presidential Commission on the Philippine Nuclear Power Plant which commissioned the study, said the nuclear scientists warned that the BNPP could not be operated even if six and a half years and $3 billion were spent for its repair. "The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant had over 40,000 defects, four times the average for nuclear power plant construction. In addition, the earthquake and volcanic hazards of the site had never been satisfactorily resolved until today. It will be a catastrophic accident waiting to happen should Congressman Mark Cojuangco succeed in having the plant operated," Perlas said. The study, he said, was commissioned by the Aquino administration. - GMANews.TV