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It has been nearly 35 years since the Philippines suspended the country’s only nuclear power plant, declaring that the 621 MW Bataan facility would not be brought into service despite the country spending $ 2.3 billion on its construction. That decision is being reviewed as the nation seeks a way to increase its power generation capacity, in a country where electricity demand is increasing as part of an economic expansion.
Fitch Solutions Group in a September market report said: “Nuclear power will offer an effective solution to meet the country’s growing energy demands over the next decade, particularly as coal power, which [the] The Philippines has relied heavily on … is under growing environmental opposition. Should nuclear power be successfully introduced into the power mix, coal-based power will face the greatest risk of being displaced. “
President Rodrigo Duterte announced in July an executive order to create an interagency panel to seek the creation of a national policy for nuclear energy. Alfonso Cusi, the Philippine energy secretary, has been a strong advocate of nuclear power as a way to increase the country’s electricity supply. Cusi has also said the nation needs a way to control Southeast Asia’s higher energy costs. In a statement following Duterte’s announcement, he said the president’s move is “an important step toward realizing a nuclear power program in the Philippines,” adding that it would “help protect our consumers from traditional price volatilities. of energy “.
The Duterte committee is expected to look at the feasibility of adding nuclear power from both an economic and environmental standpoint, and the president has said safety will be his top consideration when deciding whether to pursue a nuclear program. Cusi said in September that the country’s Department of Energy’s proposed budget for 2021 does not provide funding to build a new nuclear plant or upgrade the Bataan site, and said support from lawmakers and the public must come first.
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1. The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was built in the 1970s, but it was never commissioned. Philippine officials have discussed upgrading the plant and eventually putting it into operation, as part of the country’s nuclear program. Source: Creative Commons / Jiru27 |
Previous discussions about the Bataan plant start-up (Figure 1) gained little traction, due to safety concerns and the plant’s ties to former President Ferdinand Marcos and his martial law regime. Marcos, who ruled as a dictator for more than 20 years, in 1976 ordered the construction of the Bataan plant in response to the global energy crisis; He argued that nuclear power was the country’s response to the Middle East oil embargo that had created economic challenges. However, the plant never received fuel due to safety concerns after the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979 and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 in the then Soviet Union.
Plant availability is expected to be a more serious part of any nuclear discussion this time. Philippine officials have also been speaking with Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear company, about a feasibility study looking at the deployment of small-scale nuclear reactors across the country. Rosatom, along with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., unveiled plans in 2017 to bring Bataan online, with costs ranging from $ 1 billion to more than $ 3 billion. Since 2009, the Bataan facility has been open for paid tours, which the government says has helped defray maintenance costs.
The plant has a light water reactor built by Westinghouse. The country’s Department of National Defense, along with the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, last year urged the government to revive Bataan. Mauro Marcelo, an engineer who oversaw the maintenance and preservation of the Bataan plant before retiring earlier this year, told Reuters that other companies interested in the Philippines’ nuclear program include China’s top nuclear power plant builder. , China Nuclear Engineering and Construction, and Tractebel. , a company based in Belgium that supports the development of energy projects around the world. Marcelo said bringing Bataan online would be a project of at least five years, but it would be faster than building a new nuclear plant, which would likely take a decade or more.
A Rosatom spokesperson in August, in comments sent to POWER, said that the company signed in October 2019 a “Memorandum of Intent on cooperation in the field of small modular reactors (SMR) with the Department of Energy of the Republic of the Philippines. This allows us to share the vast knowledge and experiences we have accumulated over 75 years. [The] The Department of Energy is following [a] technologically impartial approach to create the most efficient, affordable, safe and environmentally friendly energy mix for the country. We welcome the recent signing by President R. Duterte of Executive Order No. 116 that directs a study for the adoption of a national position on a nuclear energy program.
Coal-fired power generation accounts for more than half of the Philippines’ electricity, and natural gas and renewables each account for just over 20%. Oil fired boilers provide the rest. The Philippines’ fast-growing economy, which rose 6.8% in the first three months of this year before the global spread of COVID-19, led to projections that the country’s electricity consumption, which was 90, 2 TWh in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency, would triple by 2040.
Carlo Arcilla, director of the Department of Science and Technology at the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI), recently said that “the biggest problem in the Philippines is that we have one of the most expensive powers [costs] in the world. “Clay has said that nuclear power, while requiring a large initial investment, would be preferable due to lower fuel costs.” Ask anyone with relatives abroad and they will tell you the big difference between their rates of electricity and ours, “Arcilla said in a statement in mid-August.” This is how the Philippines lags behind other countries in terms of energy cost. Nuclear power is simply the cleanest, cheapest and most efficient means of to produce electricity. Nuclear power will especially save the poorest of the Filipinos, who are actually the ones who allocate most of their income just for electricity bills. “
Rosatom currently represents two-thirds of the nuclear power projects under construction exported globally, with 36 reactors underway in 12 countries. China is also increasing its influence on nuclear power, with 12 projects under construction around the world. Both Russia and China have a keen interest in nuclear power in the Philippines and throughout Southeast Asia.
Rosatom spokesperson said POWER: “We believe that nuclear power, which is reliable in terms of providing stable electricity, is one of the most promising, safe and economically feasible solutions for supplying clean energy to countries in Southeast Asia and around the world. In addition to being a key baseline energy source, nuclear power provides zero COtwo emissions and can play an important role in advancing our common efforts to prevent climate change. “
Rosatom said SMRs “could be one of the best decisions in terms of nuclear power development in the region as a mobile solution that does not require a large-scale network infrastructure. SMRs can provide a stable power supply to large industrial facilities and remote communities and would also be efficient in hybrid systems when used in conjunction with renewable energy sources. Considering the geography of the region, we would say that both onshore and offshore nuclear power plants with SMR reactors could be a perfect solution. The floating nuclear power plant is an efficient energy solution for coastal and island territories and can adapt to different climatic conditions, such as hot tropical weather, without compromising safety properties. Once implemented, it can guarantee the country’s energy independence ”.
–Darrell proctor is associate editor of POWER.
