Marcos era nuclear power station may open in the future

The Philippines is looking into operating the
the country's only nuclear power plant, built four decades ago at more than $2 billion but never used, to ensure the long-term supply of clean and cheap electricity, its Energy secretary said.

The country is joining more than two dozen other countries looking to add nuclear power to their energy mix, including neighbors Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said on Tuesday reviving the mothballed 620-megawatt nuclear plant in Bataan province, northwest of Manila, will require a $1 billion investment.

Nuclear generation is one of the options for the Philippines to meet its growing power needs, with annual electricity demand expected to rise by an average 5 percent until 2030, he said.

"We have to weigh all our options, with emphasis not just on meeting capacity requirements, but sustainability and environmental obligations as well," Cusi said, speaking at the opening of a three-day international conference on nuclear power in Manila.

Cusi will revive a government task force created in 2007 to study nuclear power as an alternative to imported fuel oil and coal, which currently provide more than half of the country's energy mix.

He said technical experts, including those from the International Atomic Energy Agency, have been invited to help the country identify the next steps and come up with a "well-informed" decision. PHL may open mothballed Marcos-era nuclear power plant

 

I have my doubts of this place would ever open,if it does though I think we are far enough away from the inevitable accident which will happen!
It's 40 years old now and probably full of concrete cancer knowing the building standards here! I should imagine if it were ever to open a lot of people would move!

 

Probably not a great idea given all the typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic activity that happen in the area. Factor in the extreme/widespread greed/corruption along with the low education/skill level of the local workforce and it would be a major (and almost impossible) task for the Philippines to keep such a plant operational in even a stable environment.

 

No problem, these defects will be given a chance to turn themselves in to the authorities, if they cause more problems in the future they will be "dealt with" accordingly!

Must be that foreign Eurasian Plate trying to bully around the little Philippines Plate that is upsetting Mount Pinatubo. Immigration can deport the Eurasian Plate to remind the other foreigner plates about the "Filipino First" policy. Problem solved! Now where can the Philippines buy some slightly enriched U235 for their light-water reactor that's been sitting around for the last 32 years?

Spoiler: Joking aside....

....the rehabilitation cost has a "budget" of $1B USD. With all the hands in the cookie jar here I'd expect that to double by the time they were finished....and construction would likely still be sub-par making it a disaster waiting to happen. The location is about the worst place you could possibly place a nuclear power plant in the country IMO. Aside from the fault lines and volcanoes, it's upwind from the most highly populated and urbanized region of the country as well as the most productive farmland and near the mouth of two of the country's busiest shipping ports.
Population Density

Rice Production

Current Wind Direction

Fault Lines

I'm certainly not claiming to be an expert on nuclear power plants or their placement but the plant's current location is certainly not the place I would want to be placing something that is capable of spitting out a lot of radioactive materials. Also, Japan, a disciplined, educated and technologically advanced country, could barely keep their recent nuclear disaster under control....what chance could Philippine emergency response, government or military have? I understand the Fukishima reactor was a much larger than the Bantaan power plant but the Philippine government's response to Yolanda, and pretty much every other natural disaster that has ever occurred here, should be about all anyone needs to see how prepared their are to deal with a nuclear disaster of any size.

Note: The estimate for the original construction was $500M USD....which then jumped to $1.2B without any explanation (Gee, I wonder why there wasn't much explanation for the price hike? ). By the time they finished the project the construction had totaled over $2.3B USD. I wonder where that $1.8B difference went? They found out the company had sold the same technology to other countries for much cheaper. Evil foreign corporation taking advantage....or just the cost of doing business in the Philippines?

The Philippines did try their luck with a lawsuit against Westinghouse for fraud in the US courts....but it didn't go well for them. It is an interesting read and gives a little hint on who might have been lining their pockets and responsible for the ridiculous cost of construction:
Republic of the Philippines v. Westinghouse Elec., 714 F. Supp. 1362 (D.N.J. 1989)

Anyone surprised?

I'm hoping this is just some "Filipino Pride" article and more rational/logical ideas to deal with the country's energy problems are actually on the table.

 

Or even solar!