NGO slams revival plan of Bataan nuclear plant

A NON government organization is strongly campaigning against the revival of the Bataan nuclear power plant and the use of nuclear energy to help power the country.

Greenpeace urges DOE Secretary Jericho L. Petilla to abandon all plans to use nuclear energy for the country’s safety as nuclear power is not safe nor it is clean and reliable energy source.

Anna Abad of Greenpeace Southeast Asia admitted that no nuclear proposals are currently tabled in Philippine Congress. President Benigno Aquino III has already declared he is against the revival of the controversial Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

However, the Philippine Energy Plan still has provisions for nuclear energy and the Energy Reform Agenda directs the DOE to conduct research and studies in aid of legislative and executive action in the operation of a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant by 2025.

Abad claimed the energy department was already looking into nuclear projects to attract local and foreign investors. But Greenpeace is reminding people of man-made disasters caused by nuclear energy in Ukraine and in Fukushima, Japan that pay a very high human price.

Greenpeace said the government must focus on sustainable and renewable sources of energy rather than focus on the dirty sources such as coal and nuclear energy. (LCP)