Energy, Power, and Utilities Industry

[Æsahættr]

I havent heard of it until now, and I dont know much about it. Can you forumers help me out and tell me the story and maybe some pics?

I heard it cost the government a lot and never got opened... sayang lang...

[pau_p1]

that nuclear power plant was (I believe) the Bataan Nuclear powerplant that is nestled on the coast of Bataan and on top of a fault line... it was built during the Marcos regime but was deemed not to be used due to safety hazard.... plus the ban of nuclear plants in the country...

[federal]

videos even show the control panel intact... even with tags (i don't know what they're for though). They say it's costing government millions just to maintain the giant white elephant.... which produces no electricity at all!

[Æsahættr]

Sayang, is it possible, with a few modifications, to make this power plant safe for use to provide the much needed electricity?

[pau_p1]

i don't think so.. coz nuclear power is banned in the constitution

[renell]

and also there's a lot nuclear waste that's gonna make people sick. i'd invest on more cleaner and safer forms of electricity.

[mhe-ann]

Originally Posted by renell

and also there's a lot nuclear waste that's gonna make people sick. i'd invest on more cleaner and safer forms of electricity.

I agree with you @renell.

[Francis20]

is it really banned in the country?

been there last March 20, and ive seen these huge Cooling towers. The village supposed to house the employees are used as vacationeers' transient houses. They are very American. I mean the houses.

This means of power generation is one of the most efficient. You could generate a lot of power out of few grams of radioactive element. There are several advocates of this, but the environmentalists are all up against it. Well, I would believe them, there is really no efficient means to dispose off the radioactive wastes. There was even a proposal before to dispose it off on some other terrestial body or on the abbyss. And there's this Chernobyl dilemma.

The govt has invested much on this Bataan power plant...everything were already laid down. the facilities, cooling towers, the docks, etc. but these all turned out to be another white elephant. Sigh! i have no stand tho.

[SunKing]

Article II, Section 8 of the 1987 Constitution states that "The Philippines, consistent with the national interest, adopts and pursues a policy of freedom from nuclear weapons in its territory." I think that's the only provision in the Constitution as regards nuclear anything. And there's Republic Act 6969 which prohibits the importation and dumping of nuclear wastes on Philippine territory.

[Thunderflip]

Why on earth did the government invest millions for the Bataan Nuclear Plant
if Nuclear Power is banned in the constitution?I know managing a Power Plant in the country is a wide step for the development of the country and in many major sectors as well but I am not sure if the country is already ready for a Power Plant. If it leaques, it will cause sicknesses throughout Luzon and pollution in the South China Sea. It will destroy the environment, that's why many environmentalists are against it.

Can anyone post a picture of it?

If the country is smarter, why not produce electricity in a much modern and safer way like those wind power producers that look like windmills in the Netherlands or Germany or solar power devices that look like glasses placed on top of houses and buildings?It will be easier if the country will get its energy from the sun, it's hot. The Philippines is surrounded by water,the country can also have a high potential to produce water energy by putting these machines under water. There are many ways to produce energy but that will cost the country lots of money.

[amras]

they are actually building a 40 MW windfarm facility in Ilocos Norte... the first in SEA...

well anyway, why can't they just demolish the bldg instead of wasting money in maintaining it?

[Edmundtanso]

yeah i heard about the windfarm! this is very good instead of fossil fuel power generator but there are a lot of wind mill here in the SF bay area and i read that these windmills kills birds so i am not sure how good will this do to the country. they should do solar! i know it's more expensive but it would be environmetally friendly among the others forms of energy =)

[Francis20]

yes, i read about it @ Amras. it was financed by this...i forgot and ABN-AMRO.
we should be proud of it. tho i haven't figured out yet how solar energy works...haha...silly!

[nicodemus]

Nuclear plant still costs taxpayers $155,000 a day
Posted: 1:01 AM | Jul. 01, 2004

Agence France-Presse


NEARLY 30 years after work began on the Bataan nuclear power plant west of Manila, Filipino taxpayers are still paying 155,000 dollars a day in interest on a structure that has never produced one watt of power.

Thelmo Cunanan, chief executive of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co., said it had become the country's most outstanding white elephant.

"The fact that we are still paying interest on a project that is 30 years old and has not produced a watt of electricity should send at least one positive signal to the investment community," he told Agence France-Presse in a telephone interview.

The signal was, "If we enter an agreement, at least we pay our bills. There were times when I thought: Why should we? Why don't we simply turn our backs and walk away from it but that is not the way we Filipinos do business."

The Bataan nuclear power plant was a knee-jerk reaction by former dictator Ferdinand Marcos to the energy crisis of the early 1970s.

The oil embargo had put a heavy strain on the Philippine economy and Marcos saw nuclear power as the best way forward in terms of meeting the country's future power needs and lessening the nation's reliance on imported oil.

Construction began in 1976 and was completed in 1984 at a cost of 2.3 billion dollars.

The power station, 97 kilometers west of Manila, has been the center of controversy from the day construction began.

When Marcos was overthrown by the so-called People Power Revolution in early 1986 a team of international inspectors visited the site and declared it unsafe and inoperable as it was built near major earthquake fault lines and near the Pinatubo volcano, which at the time was dormant.

The first post-Marcos government of Corazon Aquino sealed the nuclear plant's fate for good when it banned the use of nuclear power and enshrined it into the constitution.

Debt repayment on the plant is the country's biggest single obligation.

Successive governments have looked at ways of converting the plant into an oil-, coal- or gas-fired power station.

Cunanan said a South Korean company recently expressed an interest in taking over the nuclear power station and developing it as a commercial operation. But a provision in the Constitution ruled it out.

Cunanan said it would be unfair to name the company but said the government has not ruled out converting the plant into a fossil fuel power station.

Some studies in the past have shown that converting the plant may be too expensive.

The plant itself has been maintained despite never having been commissioned.

A Westinghouse light water reactor, it was designed to produce 621 megawatts of electricity.

Much of the technology used in the plant was early 1970s but modified following the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979.


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[SunKing]

I read an article in Reader's Digest that using windmills isn't really that efficient.

[absent-minded]

Originally Posted by amras

well anyway, why can't they just demolish the bldg instead of wasting money in maintaining it?

I don't think it's even being maintained. they're just paying off the bills... I wouldn't see the point of maintaining it knowing it's never gonna be needed anyway. they should maintain NAIA-3!! sheesh... haha...

[Edmundtanso]

yeah windmill is okay but not very environmentally friendly, especially for birds and they are not cheap but clean. on the otherhand solar is more expensive but very environmentally friendly. and with the amount of sunlight we get on phils, this is the way to go!

[Edmundtanso]

about the bataan nuclear plant, maybe the gov't should find another use for it. maybe as housing para the interest payment they are paying benefits the people atleast

[amras]

sell it to the junkshop... and use the money to pay for the debts...

[renell]

Originally Posted by SunKing

I read an article in Reader's Digest that using windmills isn't really that efficient.

well enough numbers of them they will be. true they do take up a lot of space to produce sufficient energy. tidal power wouldnt be a bad source of energy either. we have good waves in the Pacific coast, let's put them to even more use, besides tourism and surfing