NUCLEAR ENERGY: POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO ENERGY CRISIS

By HENRYLITO D. TACIO PHOTOS COURTESY OF PNRI

“Ourshortage of electricity is a real, serious problem that we cannot downplay. But if we focus exclusively on it, we run the risk of seeing just the trees and not the forest.” That was what Rufino Bomasang, then energy undersecretary, told community journalists who attended a media briefing on business and economics reporting at Los Baños, Laguna.

More than three decades later, the same scenario is happening. As the Philippines continues to pursue a path of global competitiveness, it is becoming evident that securing an adequate energy supply will be ever more critical to its growing in- dustries.

About 50% of the country’s power generation comes from coal, with natural gas and renewables accounting for just more than 20%. The remaining comes from oil-fired boilers.

“The biggest issue in the Philippines is that we have one of the most expensive power (costs) in the world,” Dr. Carlo Arcilla, the director of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, was once quoted as saying. “Ask anyone who has relatives abroad, and they will tell you the stark difference between their electricity rates and ours.”

The country’s electricity consumption is expected to triple by 2040 – from the 90.2 TWh (Terawatt-hour) in 2018 – due to its rapidly growing economy.

But the disturbing news is that Indonesia will soon stop exporting coal – from which 90% of the country’s coal-fired plants come from

– because they need to use it. In addition, the Malampaya natural gas fields in the West Philippine Sea are expected to be depleted by 2024. To address the forthcoming energy crisis, the country must transition away from its heavy reliance on coal. The adoption of nuclear power is the fastest option and would make electricity costs more affordable, according to PNRI, a line agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Dr. Arcilla said that including nuclear power in the country’s energy mix would be beneficial to consumers as it would bring down the “expensive” electricity rates and provide a stable electricity source of power.

The Philippines commenced construction of a nuclear power plant following the 1973 oil crisis. The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) was completed in 1984 but never went into operation. It was mothballed by then President Corazon C. Aquino on the fear of reactor meltdown after the Chernobyl Disaster as well as the increase of the price of the plant.

But during the time of the presidency of Rodrigo R. Duterte, Executive Order 164 was signed, thus including nuclear power in the country’s energy mix. Under the new policy, it stated that the country “shall ensure the peaceful use of nuclear technology anchored on critical tenets of public safety, national security, energy self-sufficiency, and environmental sustainability.”

“The secret here is a mix,” pointed out Dr. Arcilla in a conversation with Asian Power. “We need the mix of the coal that is being phased out and renewables, but we need a stable source and nuclear has to be considered. Nuclear is very clear, there are no emissions. Its waste disposal can be done safely.

The biggest problem with nuclear power, however, is misconceptions and bad rap. “But 10% of the world’s energy is coming from nuclear power and in America, it is 20%, they have nearly 100 nuclear power plants operating for 60 years,” Dr. Arcilla said. “We badly need nuclear as a baseload source of power, but it can only come maybe in the next four or five years, the shortest time the

Bataan Nuclear Plant gets started.”

One of the benefits from the inclusion of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix is price. “The cost of electricity from nuclear power is one of the cheapest,” Dr. Arcilla explained to Asian Power. “If you increase the share of nuclear in the energy mix, that will bring the average down.

We don’t want to replace everything with nuclear energy, only in the baseload. If we don’t include nuclear power and rely only on imported liquid natural gas, electricity, which is now expensive, will even go higher. This is one of the only ways we can bring it down.”

Nuclear power is one of the two major alternatives to fossil fuels; the other one is renewable energy (whose sources include solar power, wind power, hydroelectric, geothermal energy, and biomass energy).

Nuclear power is the