BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
WHEN former president Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order that allowed nuclear power plants to be considered as a source of electricity generation in the Philippines, a wave of concern swept through the minds and hearts of the security, environmental, medical, and renewable energy thinking community.
The Department of Energy officials started to talk about the possibility of building several advanced Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), including floating SMRs, all around the Philippines. We surmise that the hearts of the energy tycoons and political cronies beat faster.
The gray-haired veterans of the anti-Bataan Nuclear Power Plant campaigns, such as famous campaigner Professor Roland Simbulan of the Nuclear Free Philippines, will recall the hundreds of millions of dollars that were siphoned off the deal into the private accounts of Marcos cronies. Had the nuclear plant been operational, the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption and the many earthquakes would have likely caused a nuclear disaster.
The real possibility of a nuclear accident is what rightly scares millions of people away from nuclear power as a source of electricity generation when there are many alternatives to renewable energy available in the Philippines.
Solar and wind farms, hydro dams, geothermal, and biomass are all available and at much lower cost in comparison to nuclear, coal, oil, and gas imports. According to a report by the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC), the few existing renewable energy (RE) projects, especially solar and wind power have already saved the Philippines 4.04 billion pesos.
Besides, renewable energy sources of electricity are free, thanks to nature. The wind blows, the sun shines and volcanic heat is always present for geothermal plants and delivered by nature without cost. They just need more investment and harnessing and they pose no danger.
The Philippines has the highest electricity cost in Asia, thanks to energy corporations making secret, price-fixing deals with corrupt government officials. That is a form of corruption that cannot be cured. Can the government of Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. promote renewable energy projects without corruption and dirty deals by cronies? We hope so and all true honest Filipinos need to monitor and evaluate the projects.
Nuclear power, oil, and coal power plants are damaging the health of Filipinos and the environment and generating huge amounts of CO2 that is causing global warming and dangerous climate change. This is damaging crops and the environment. Smaller fruit harvests like mango is one of the indicators. Mangos are splitting open on the trees because of the heat.
Following a strong earthquake or tsunami causing a nuclear accident at a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) would release radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere and widespread death-dealing cancer would result. The radiation that would escape will cause widespread contamination poisoning people, plants, animals, groundwater, and the ocean. Sea life will be contaminated if a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) was to leak radiation or if the cooling water is released into the ocean. Huge areas of land would be uninhabitable for hundreds of years and thousands could eventually die from cancers. (To be continued)/PN
