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Manila scientists oppose nuclear plant – upiasia.com

Manila scientists oppose nuclear plant UPI Asia.com By Gerry Albert Corpuz 12 Feb 09  Manila, Philippines — Scientists in Manila have declared war against a government plan to revive the controversial Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which was built by 1984 but never operated. They dismissed the completed but not yet fueled plant as a sleeping monster and a monument of corruption.

The nuclear plant, located in Morong on the Bataan peninsula, is the current object of outrage by members of the scientific community and anti-corruption watchdogs throughout the Philippines. The plant was started in 1976 at an estimated cost of US$600 million. By the time it was finished in 1984 the price tag was US$2.3 billion – the price bloated by cronies of former Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos to ensure fat kickbacks for the ruling president’s group at the time.

The government was paying some US$300,000 a day on interest alone, essentially Filipino taxpayers money, on a loan sourced for Westinghouse, the plant builder, under the auspices of and guaranteed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund…………………………………

According to the Philippine-based geologist, the United States Geological Survey recorded at least six earthquakes in sites near Mt. Natib and the site where the plant is located. Rodolfo said uranium is not carbon-free as proponents of nuclear energy have been claiming.

He said fossil fuels are still used to mine, mill and process uranium before it reaches a reactor and every watt of electricity generated by a nuclear power plant makes around 30 percent as much carbon as a watt generated by burning fossil fuel, further complicating the problem of global warming.

Professor Giovanni Tapang, also a renowned scientist and physicist from the University of the Philippines, said the risks in getting the nuclear plant online would outweigh the benefits of the 620 megawatts of electricity it could generate………………………Based on the views of foreign and local scientists, and from the political and moral perspectives of groups and individuals opposing the revival of the nuclear plant, the Manila government should stop pursuing the project and instead focus on sourcing energy from alternative, cheaper and safer sources of energy.

Manila scientists oppose nuclear plant – upiasia.com

February 13, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Philippines, safety | Leave a comment

Nuke plant unsafe, says study

Nuke plant unsafe, says study
By Leila Salaverria Philippine Daily Inquirer 02/08/2009 MANILA, Philippines—The Senate and the Office of the President have in their possession an explosive study whose disclosure could very well result in the permanent shuttering of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant and end moves in Congress to reopen the facility, according to environmentalist Nicanor Perlas.According to Perlas, it is important that the four-year study be made public as Congress has now begun debates on a bill filed by Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco seeking to rehabilitate the BNPP at a cost of $1 billion.He said the study, conducted in 1991 by local and foreign experts, showed that the plant’s most serious defect concerned its Quality Assurance Program, which the experts found to be sloppy and below regulatory standards………………………………

Even if $1 billion is spent to rehabilitate the plant, this would not be enough to cure the defects because in the first place, there is no way of pinpointing where all these problems are, Perlas said.

“The design and construction problems of BNPP are frozen in concrete and steel,” he said…………………………..

He said that at the time the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission had minimal experience in nuclear regulation. And the energy department at the time was run by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ energy czar. Thus, the regulator had a conflict of interest.

“So it was very shady… This is where the corruption meets the technical and creates a nightmare scenario for the quality of the plant,” Perlas said.

If there should be an accident as a result of an earthquake, volcanic eruption, tsunami, faulty equipment or operator error, the resulting meltdown would cause an unspeakable disaster, he warned.

Nuke plant unsafe, says study – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radiation, uranium

February 9, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Philippines, safety | Leave a comment