Friday, June 22, 2007 Local firm mulls investment in nuclear energy
THE First Gen company of the Lopez family is considering going into nuclear energy development.
“If that would be trend in the power sector, we will be studying this investment option,” said Federico Lopez, First Gen president and chief operating officer (CEO).
He said the conversion of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) into natural gas-run power facility would be unfavorable because it would be very expensive. “Previous studies show that it would not be feasible to convert BNPP to a natural gas plant. It would not be financially viable but we will still look at it. We will study it,” Lopez said.
The official said there would be a lot of areas to be studied before nuclear energy is developed in the country. “We need to address the issue of waste disposal. We should be able to determine first where to dump the waste before we could proceed with this kind of project. And this will entail a lot of investment,” Lopez said
The government had shelved the nuclear power plant project following objections from several environmentalist groups and because of findings that it is unsafe to operate it.
Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the government is open to proposals on what to do with BNPP.
“BNPP is in the hands of Assets Privatization Trust (APT). It would be APT that will decide what to do with the site and the plant as these are National Government assets. The government has not received any new proposal for the BNPP,” Lotilla said. (MSN/Sunnex)
