I WAS reading news articles from my social media accounts when I chanced upon an article about nuclear energy. It was then that I remembered a recent conversation with a friend, Israel Buenaobra about this subject.
Apparently, he also has a serious, intellectual side, a side not commonly seen by most people, especially that we’re so used to seeing him do stand-ups with Comedy Baguio (every Fridays at Moe’s).
So, what is nuclear energy?
Nuclear energy is produced when uranium atoms are split inside a reactor in a process called fission. The heat from the fission is used to produce steam, which spins the turbine to generate electricity. A single uranium fuel pellet the size of a pencil eraser contains the same amount of energy as 17,00 cubic feet of natural gas, 1,780 pounds of coal or 149 gallons of oil (www.nei.org).
Nuclear energy is considered as a sustainable energy source because the supply of uranium to reactors around the world is enough to last for 100 years or more. As a contrast to renewable energy which are sourced from limitless supply of fuel, whether water, wind or sun.
For this type of energy to be produced, a relatively more compact size of power plants is only necessary compared to other non-emitting energy sources. The very first nuclear power plant in the world was built in Arco, Idaho, USA on December 20, 1951. From then on, the number of nuclear power plants increased in number to more than 450 power plants in over 30 countries.
Here in the Philippines, the construction of a nuclear power plant in Morong, Bataan was completed in 1984. It was the first to be built in South East Asia. This was during the administration of former President Ferdinand Marcos, and was seen to address the rising costs of electricity as a result of the oil shocks in the 1970s.
In 1986, Edsa Revolt happened which catapulted President Corazon Aquino, several concerned groups and environmentalists protested against its operations because the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) was constructed too close to a fault line and an active volcano.
A disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine in 1986 further derailed the commencement of operations of BNPP, highlighting concerns on safety and health of the citizens near the power plant.
The initial cost of building the BNPP was pegged at $2.1 billion, and with upgrades and maintenance costs estimated to be about $340 million.
Last September 2017, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that in order to fill in the widening gap of demand and supply of energy in the country, they would have to continue developing more and other sources of energy, like coal and renewable energy, including the possibility that operating the 40-year BNPP.
Why even consider using nuclear energy to generate power here in the Philippines?
Well, nuclear energy is said to be the one of the cheaper sources of energy. According to the US International Energy Administration (US IEA), considering all the capital, plant operating, external and others costs, which determine the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) as reported in their Annual Energy Outlook 2017, nuclear energy is still substantially cheaper than coal by more than $20 per megawatt (www.eia.gov).
Aside from the actual costs, external costs are also included in the computation of the power cost. External costs are costs that are incurred in relation to health and environment and are paid by the community in general. When the external costs are computed for impact, including an impact of a nuclear accident), nuclear power still registered a much lower external cost, a mere 1/10 of the external cost incurred when using coal (www.world-nuclear.org).
This would mean that the adverse effects on the environment and health is much lower when nuclear power plants are used against coal-power plants.
If BNPP will be operation, it can be able to generate 625 megawatts of electricity, about 10 percent of the present electric power requirements of Luzon. This would be a huge reduction of power supply from coal-power plants that are have more costs and adverse effects on the environment. As a result, the cost of electricity, when it reaches the final consumers will be much cheaper also.
Despite the perceived economic benefits derived from producing nuclear power, there are still concerned groups, like Green Peace Philippines, that are protesting against the opening of BNPP. They have cited reasons like: faulty economics of nuclear power, where the enormous hidden costs are not disclosed; probability of nuclear accidents or disasters; risks on investments; would contribute significantly to climate change; and, that it is not the best alternative sources of energy.
When the Fukushima accident happened in 2011, the nuclear energy sector implemented safety enhancement strategy to ensure that plants would have the proper equipments that can respond to extreme natural events like the tsunami in Japan. These were further enhancements from the ones that were implemented following the 2001 terror attacks.
I believe it is about time for our country to use nuclear power to generate electricity. As a developing country, our industries and consumers would benefit a lot from lower power costs. The Philippines has one of the most expensive electric power in Southeast Asia.
We have already a facility, a white elephant rotting away in Bataan, waiting for it to be operational. The technology today is already much more advanced than the technology back in the 1980s that would address, prevent or contain nuclear accidents. We can definitely benefit from this (ceteris paribus).