ShareThisMANILA — President Benigno Aquino III is not prioritizing the use of nuclear energy despite the country’s growing requirement for energy.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the President is concerned about the safety issues of running nuclear power plants so he would rather favor using other alternative energy sources.
“There is a concern on the safety issues and this is made emphatic and dramatic by the incident right now in the Fukushima Dai-chi nuclear reactor. That is a concern and it is the policy of the President to consider other energy sources that do not have safety issues,” he said adding it is the President’s position even during the campaign last year.
Asked if the President will never consider adopting a nuclear policy within his term, Lacierda said he couldn’t say if the President’s position will change.
Lacierda also said the recent study commissioned by the Department of Energy with regard to the use of nuclear power doesn’t necessarily mean the government will pursue a nuclear policy.
“That’s only a study and it doesn’t necessarily mean that we will put that into action. That’s only a study for us to see…and part of the study would also include addressing the safety issues,” he said. “Right now until those safety concerns are addressed the preference of the President is to use and explore other sources of energy”
Citing the Fukushima incident, Lacierda said that despite the use of modern technology, the Fukushima reactors failed, and now pose major health and environmental concerns.
Although there are layered containment shells, the reactors overheated, he said, noting that theoretically it is easy to anticipate good performance but when it comes to the actual use, incidents like the one that happened in Japan could occur.
Lacierda also said that even a First World country like Germany has put on hold its nuclear energy program.
“So if a First World country would do so certainly it should allow us to think on the proposal of using nuclear energy,” he said.
Some of big local businessmen are proposing the establishment of nuclear power plants as a response to a looming energy problem as the country develops.
The proposals involved cooperation with other countries like South Korea and Japan and other countries.