Nuclear power in the Philippines


Nuclear power was considered as a solution to the 1973 oil crisis, in which the Philippines was affected. The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was built in the early 1980s but never went into operation.
The Fukushima nuclear disaster gave pause to efforts to revive the plant.
There have been proposals in 2009 and 2016 to operate the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant

Under a regime of martial law, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in July 1973 announced the decision to build a nuclear power plant. This was in response to the 1973 oil crisis, as the Middle East oil embargo had put a heavy strain on the Philippine economy, and Marcos believed nuclear power to be the solution to meeting the country's energy demands and decreasing dependence on imported oil.
Construction on the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant began in 1976. Following the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the United States, construction on the BNPP was stopped, and a subsequent safety inquiry into the plant revealed over 4,000 defects. Among the issues raised was that it was built near major faults and close to the then dormant Pinatubo volcano.
Issues of overpricing, bribery, corruption, mismanagement were also raised.
In 2009, a bill was filed in the Philippine House of Representatives to recommission and operate the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. The cost for rehabilitation was placed at USD 1 billion, to be shouldered by taxpayers through loans and additional charges to consumers. The Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines, No to BNPP Revival, and Advocates of Science and Technology for the People, and the Freedom from Debt Coalition opposed the bill, saying that the nuclear plant was defective and dangerous and harbored technical flaw. Concerns were also raised in the House of Representatives concerning nuclear waste disposal, geological hazards, and unfinished debt payments.
The Department of Energy of the Philippines in 2016 revived proposals to operate the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, with the cost for rehabilitating the plant estimated at USD 1 billion. Issues were raised against the plant in the Philippine Senate and by Greenpeace Philippines, No to BNPP, Nuclear Free Bataan Movement, and Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos regarding corruption, cost, and safety.