Solon wants revival of Bataan nuke plant

QUEZON CITY — Former Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco has proposed a 20 percent maximum private ownership in the mothballed 600-megawatt(MW) Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) under a new bill his wife, Rep. Kimi Cojuangco, filed in Congress.

“The bill I proposed last Congress and the new bill my wife proposes in the present Congress allows 20 percent, maximum, private ownership in Bataan Nuclear. We did that because we felt since Bataan Nuclear is already 100 percent owned by Filipino people today,” Cojuangco said during a Nuclear Power Forum.

He said the revival of the BNPP, mothballed since 1986 due to safety concerns, “will be politically unacceptable” considering the amount we’ve paid (US$ 2.118 billion)” if it will be given to the private sector.

“The bill I proposed last Congress and the new bill my wife proposes in the present Congress allows 20 percent, maximum, private ownership in Bataan Nuclear. We did that because we felt since Bataan Nuclear is already 100 percent owned by Filipino people today,” he said.

The Cojuangco couple is pushing for the revival of the BNPP under House Bill 1291 filed last July.

“Our thinking was that for the good economics of nuclear energy to benefit the Filipino people, then the plant must remain owned by the Filipino people,” Cojuango said.

He said there would be P2 to P3 per kilowatthour (kHr) savings in the operation of the plant amounting to between P9 billion and P13.5 billion a year at wholesale prices and the savings could be used to lower the price of electricity.

Cojuangco filed House Bill 04631 which mandates the immediate re-commissioning and commercial operation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, appropriating funds therefor, and for other purposes but this was amended under the new bill filed by his wife.

Conjuangco has been urging the public to support nuclear power to secure the country’s power situation.

Cojuangco said that nuclear power, through BNPP can be sold at around P2.50 per kWh below the current rate of the National Power Corp. (Napocor)of P4.50 to P5 per kWh.

Cojuangco said state-run Napocor or a government entity that has the capability to run the facility would be the one to run the plant.

President Benigno S. Aquino III has announced that he has no plans to revive Bataan Nuclear but said he favored nuclear energy as an option to secure the country’s long-term power requirements.

The Energy Department is already studying how to develop the country’s nuclear power program.