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Philippines and its white elephant nuclear plant

Philippines revisits nuclear energy option at ‘white elephant’ plant

MORONG, Philippines (AFP) 9 Jan 09 — The Bataan nuclear power plant stands as a monument to the greed and corruption of the years the Philippines spent under strongman president Ferdinand Marcos.It was originally meant to cost around 500 million dollars, but the final price tag of 2.3 billion dollars was only paid off in April 2007.A huge slice of the inflated balance was allegedly stolen by Marcos and his cronies.And it has never powered so much as a light bulb…..

….by 2011, the Philippines is expected to produce less electricity than it needs, and so now there’s a plan afoot to bring the gigantic, chipped and rusted white elephant to life…………….

The Philippines is a geologically volatile country and the land near the plant is particularly vulnerable to seismic activity, much of it caused by the huge Manila Trench fault in the South China Sea to the west of the plant.

In 1991 Mount Pinatubo, a volcano to the north of the plant that was once thought to be dormant, exploded, killing 300 people. Seismologists say Mount Natib nearby is “potentially active”.

Bishop Socrates Villegas, the prelate for the nearby city of Balanga, sees Mount Pinatubo as a warning against commissioning Bataan.

“The nuclear power plant stands at the foot of Mount Natib, which is a volcano. Now, can you imagine a volcano erupting and at the foot of it is a nuclear power plant that did not meet safety standards? Can you imagine the devastation?”

The area is also frequently battered by typhoons.

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive

January 9, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety