ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas
Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
In the history of man, the fear of the unknown has always hampered progress. Fortunately, there were people who were willing to take the risks and challenge convention, and pave the way for a better life for their fellow men.
For example, from the first time man saw a bird flying, he also wanted to soar to the sky. And why not? If man could fly, he would be able to reach more lands in shorter time. First, there were the mythical Daedaelus and his son Icarus who literally copied the birds and made themselves giant wings to escape from a labyrinth in Crete. The myth goes on to say that Icarus disobeyed his father and flew too high. The wax that kept the feathers together melted and he fell to the sea and drowned.
The tragedy that befell Icarus did not stop man from the quest to fly, and many tried different ways to soar to the sky. Finally, on December 17. 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright broke the barrier and successfully launched into the sky the Wright Flyer and became the first to fly a controlled and sustained aircraft.
There was also a time when people thought the earth was flat, and that if you traveled to the end of the ocean, you would fall into the unknown. For centuries, people feared traveling westward, until Ferdinand Magellan decided in 1519 to challenge the unknown and sailed westward from Spain in search of new routes and new lands.
I am pointing these out because despite the advent of modern technology, there remains that fear of the unknown in the Philippines that continues to hamper progress. While several countries have been using nuclear plants to provide their power needs for decades, the Philippines has hesitated to embrace nuclear energy, which, without any doubt, will be the only reliable source of energy in the near future.
The United States is the biggest producer of nuclear energy with 104 operable nuclear plants, another one under construction, and 30 more planned or proposed. The other top users of nuclear power are France, Japan, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom, Canada, India, Germany, Ukraine, China, and Taiwan.
A cursory glance of this list would reveal that these countries are among the richest and most industrialized in the world. The emerging economies have also joined the bandwagon – Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and United Arab Emirates.
This list alone should tell us that nuclear energy is the way to go in the future, and that the Philippines should no longer hesitate to come to grips with this reality.
For all his faults, the late President Ferdinand Marcos saw the need for new sources of energy other than those generated by plants fueled by oil, whose prices continued soaring and whose availability in the future were suspect. He built dams and built hydroelectric power plants. He utilized geothermal power and built geothermal power plants. Finally, he built the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), which, unfortunately, was haunted by corruption and was closed even before it could generate a single watt of electricity.
Almost every year, the Philippines is hit by crippling power shortages. Not a single administration saw the need to confront the recurring problem.
While there are laudable efforts to find alternative sources of energy, such as putting up windmills to harness the power of the wind, putting up solar panels to harness the energy from the sun, and putting up ethanol plants to produce fuel from sugar, corn and other agricultural products, we all know that these alternative sources of energy cannot even come close to the amount of power produced by turbines using oil or coal.
And yet, we know that in time, the world has to turn to other sources of energy because oil and coal are so expensive, their supply is seriously depleting, and they have caused so much harm to the earth’s atmosphere, resulting in alarming weather phenomena such as global warming, El Nino and El Nina and drought.
Nuclear energy is the only viable alternative to oil-fueled and coal-fueled power. Nuclear plants can produce significant quantities of electricity, and are generally comparable in output to coal plants. More importantly, the cost of electricity will be greatly reduced and the supply uninterrupted.
There are admittedly some disadvantages to nuclear power. For example, there is still the problem of how to dispose of radioactive waste. There is also the problem with costs. Building a plant is very expensive but the cost of running the plant is comparatively low. There is also the danger of terrorist attack, but terror threats should not stop nations from moving forward.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday revived the debate over nuclear plants when he said that despite its risks, the government should consider building nuclear power plants to solve the creeping power shortage in the country.
Maybe we should start listening to him.
(valabelgas@aol.com)
Nuclear waste are the problem where to store them. Radiation is very dangerious to every life.
Here in the U.S. have a large cavernous underground shielded with a very thick doors with all around cloak guards watching the stored nuclear wastes.
Does PH have a capacity to do that? Even U.S. have few nuclear plants where most inhabitants are against.
The problem with spent fuel storage is avoided by having contracts with nuclear plant providers that includes them taking back waste fuel and their reprocessing. By doing this we reduce the high cost of building local storage facilities and maintenance.
Val, great column. Maybe our government officials should be listening to you. Maning
Why not encourages a renewable energy such as wind, solar and water. We have running rivers which can drive a wheel paddles to turn the turbines to generate electricity. No need for a dam just a river current flows.
Everything are expensive but if the government heart are into that, everything are possible.
The objection to solar plants is that it is very costly to put up. It is also very expensive, maybe more so to put up a nuclear plant.There are no risks of radiation and lack of supply of energy – the energy from the sun is limitless – so let’s go solar.
what’s keeping the government from developing solar energy?
Wind, solar, water are good only as supplemental power sources. The country needs a steady and reliable source of base power and nuclear provides this and without air polution and with the least volume of waste generated.
Both uclear and clean/green energy sources have their own advantages and disadvantages.The energy dept. should be able to make an intelligent choice which way the country should go. We have a good number of sientists, engineers and nuclear physicists to make things happen but we need decent, honest and well-meaning politicians to push through what is the best for country without considerations of kick-backs or earmarks. Our problem is we have become so cynical about any government pojects because of the thought of graft and corruption lurking in the background.
Several new, more advanced, safer and cheaper designs of nuclear plants are coming to market. They are a vast improvement to the design of the 60′s and 70′s to totally new systems. A comparison will be like the portable radios in the 60′s to the iPods of today.
If the government initiates a nuclear program we have many Filipinos with nuclear experience that can assure us that we choose the best and safest system avialable in the market and with the best favorable financial terms.
Countries with nuclear plants are now seriously thinking of scrapping their facilities in favor of other substitute fuel. Japan, having been hit lately by a devastating earthquake and tsunami, will completely shut off their nuclear facilities.
Since our country is in the “Ring of Fire”, we cannot afford to put up nuclear plant. Better safe than sorry.
Val, thanks for your good article.
To solve the brownouts, it should be addressed LOCALLY not ENTIRELY for the whole Mindanao.
For example, the subdivided DAVAO provinces may unify as ONE province in addressing their localized brownouts. The local governments and the business sectors should be partners in sharing the cost of the venture. The partnership can easily determine whether to go NUCLEAR or invest in an alternative OPPORTUNITY COST in solving the localized brownouts.
If the whole Mindanao, you need to solve FIRST the BIGGER problems posed by the NPAs and the Muslim secessionists. Let the national government deal with the bigger problems in terms of SECURITY and DEFENSE for the whole Mindanao.
The REGION/s or provinces in MINDANAO that provide support and haven to the NPAs and the MUSLIM secessionists will have more brownouts and should live with it, in my opinion.
If I am not mistaken, GLOBAL BALITA issued today 3 non-political articles that more than OUTWEIGH the value of reading the 7 political articles that do not solve the problems of ECONOMY and PROGRESS of the country.
Probably, before deciding on this, we need to ask the question – Who stopped the BNPP from operating and Why? Who – it was Corazon Cojuangco Aquino then President. Why – Corruption? – Maybe. The unwritten answer is that this was one of the conditions for the Feb. 1986 Revolution supporters to support and install Cory. Aboitiz and the Lopezes of MERALCO were among the supporters. Aboitiz made a killing on the sale of Generators when there was a power crisis during and after Cory time. MERALCO built new Power Plants under its First Gen Corporation. Now, the President is Benigno Cojuangco Aquino. Who is benefitting from the brownouts in Mindanao? Aboitiz again. In Luzon, MERALCO dominated the whole of the power business. Now, Aboitiz is also in the northern part of the Philippines building Mini-hydros. So, do you think this administration will push for another power plant? Probably yes, if this will be privately owned so Aboitiz and Meralco can play again.