I must confess, I was never a friend of nuclear energy. I really got keen of hearing, when Philippine Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes admitted that tapping nuclear energy as a possible source of power is an option that the Department of Energie (DOE) wants to take.
Now I really like to use the term “however”. Yes, thanks God! “However”, Reyes said, “let’s not get into nuclear power until we are dead sure (?) that we are ready. And, we are ready if we have stakeholder support.”
Well said, Sir.
It was also very good, that Reyes mentioned the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which was built and then eventually mothballed. It is indeed the most expensive nuclear power plant, which one set up but is not operational.
Of course, we all know, that nuclear power has its inherent dangers which the whole world is trying to solve – also in my home country Germany. Since many years some people tried to convince me, for example, that there are also advantages as well.. The nuclear power is baseload and will remain stable for as long as 50 years. It provides us steady and cheap power in the long run.
So far so good… .
Anyway, as we could learn from a press release: The Philippine government is planning to start up its first 600-megawatt nuclear power plant by 2025, based on doe data.
We’ll wait and see and have a cup of tea… .
About Klaus
PAASE ( Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering) and its members( I am a retired member of this academy) have been discussing the Pro’s and Con’s of reviving the Bataan Nuclear Plant, the last six months. The items that sticks out in our discussion, are safety, efficiency and costs of reconstruction. On safety, the sight in Bataan is on the earthquake zone. The facility is so old, it will cost more to reconstruct than to built a new facility. On the other hand the Philippines power needs may be alleviated by nuclear energy. To sum it up, I don’t think the Philippines is ready for nuclear power in the next year or so, maybe by 2025. Klaus, I am glad you are writing on this very important topic. Cheers!
It’s high time that the country use the benefits of nuclear energy. There is a need for strong advocacy to it.
Why? Do you want to steal some radioaactive material for some other use?
what about the waste that nobody knows how to deal with ?
Reden that is a good point. We also discussed this, but I forgot to mention it. I also forgot to mention that the benefits of new source of electric energy will be localized in the Luzon( Bataan) area. Other parts of the Philippines will not be affected. So, is it worth to spend such a large amount of money for the benefits only of a few Filipinos?
Hi Klaus,
Interesting,i never knew PI had a mothballed plant.
Given their climate and shoreline, wouldnt more Hydro or Solar and Tidal wave energy be a better solution.How are other Tropical Asian countries dealing with their future energy plans?
I am not opposed to Nuclear Energy where there are few alternatives for a stable energy supply.Lets face it,technology has really advanced in the last 40yrs since the first plants were built.
However, i feel they should only be built as the last option.
regards Chas.
Hi Klaus,
Very interesting article.
Im not sure how important it is that the facility sits on an earthquake zone. Here in SoCal we have the San Onofre nucular power plant than sits very close to the San Andreas fault. This plant has been shaken several times without incident.
Also as far as the waste goes, it is theroreticaly possible to recycle the waste. Its a cost issue. As long as the waste is still radioactive, its giving off energy. The waste can therefore be reused undergoing a process. (the name of this process escapes me at the moment.)
Here in the US the process has been banned by exectutive order by President Jimmy Carter. His Reasoning was that it put the potential use of nuclear material at risk for terrorist to misuse. A solution to the waste is to make a homegenous mixture of the nuclear waste and boron glass. This renders it usless to a spill or leak from its storage container.
Hi Klaus.
I can understand the concern about nuclear power, and what to do with the waste.
Is there any discussion on using windpower? Here in Denmark 20-25 percent of power consumption is from windpower.
Hi Klause – unlike you I am in favour of nuclear power – I believe it is the only credible source of energy for the future – the United Kingdom at present generates about 25% of its power by this means.France generates 75% of its power by nuclear means.It is a safe method if properly managed and regulated.As far as nuclear power in the Philippines is concerned the thought fills me with horror as the concepts of routine maintenance and preventative maintenance appear to be non existent.A few years ago an Italian company was asked to assess the existing power stations and reported that they should have a 20 year life but due to the total lack of maintenance they were lifed at 12 years.With the usual corruption spares would vanish,project funds would evaporate etc – I do not believe that the Bataan power station will ever be activated and no responsible company would build a new one here.
As far as wind power goes try to get some real figures – frankly it is a very expensive excercise,gives good subsides from governments trying to show how green they are but little else. You have to build a second source of power for when there is no wind – these costs are left out of the pro wind power lobbies figures.
My little country,Scotland was the first to have a nuclear power station (Dounray)and I know of no fatalities due to nuclear power but coming from a mining village there were widows and children without fathers who had been killed down the mines.
Hi Klaus,
I am an advocate of nuclear power. Forty years ago computers cost millions of dollars and were the size of very large rooms. Similarly nuclear power plant construction costs were measured in the billions of dollars and required as much land as a small city.
Today nuclear power generation has undergone the same transformation that computers have. The difference is mainly political acceptance.
Instead of some gigantic construction project requiring 15 years and thousands of workers to build, imagine a box the size of a hot tub, that gets delivered on one truck and provides enough electricity for 20,000 American homes.
The Los Alamos Laboratory, where everything nuclear was invented in the first place, have developed just such a nuclear power generation station. It is factory sealed in a box, contains no weapons grade uranium, has no moving parts and requires no maintenance.
The Hyperion Corporation has already licensed the technology and has more than 100 orders already. Within 5 years they will begin delivery, mostly in eastern Europe.
The cost for the people will be approximately 4.5 pesos per kilowatt hour. After 5 years of operation, the quantity of waste generated would be about the size of a man’s fist. Compare that to the injury to the environment in generating electricity using conventional methods.
Here’s a news story about it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/09/miniature-nuclear-reactors-los-alamos
Here’s a link to the company producing it. http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/why.html
Nuclear power should never be in the hands of private companies as the profit motive too easily erodes safety in any kind of industry and safety with regard to nuclear power is absolutely paramount.Remember 3 mile island? that incident scared the Americans so badly they have not built a nuclear power station since.We have always had a certain risk with our energy production – remember gas storage tanks – in city areas,the number of fatalities in the coal mining industry even today they number in the thousands in China.
I write from Germany. Some say Germany is a high-tech country. But we have not found solutions to treat the waste of nuclear energy. Actually politicians and technicians discuss how to fetch about 100.000 tons of nuclear waste from an ancient salt mine because water is entering and the barrels with the waste are corroding. The estimated costs are some billion euro! And then nobody knows where to put this waste for the second time.
Recycling of nuclear waste is by no way a sustainable chemical process. German nuclear industry stopped a planned plant for recycling the waste. The English and the French plant for recycling are not secure. People found a lot of radioactivity in the environment. Past summer they detected that at a French plant tons of radioactive liquid infected the ground.
Two nuclear power plants in Germany are not working since 2 years. In one of them a transformator was burning. The operators didn’t know what happened for 20 minutes. During this event the security systems had no redundancy.
Nuclear systems emitt the radioactive gas xenon. It cannot be captured. It contributes to the greeenhouse effect.
In Germany politicians and nuclear energy consented to stop nuclear energy within the next 2 decades. But now some from industry want to extend this period.
There are other solutions for energy supply: windmills, photovoltaic areas, solarthermic systems for electicity and for process heat (Actually a German research institute (DLR: http://www.dlr.de/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-13/) is testing such systems in Germany and in Spain. My son is working there.)
My neighbour sells solarsystems to China (http://www.sinosol.com/en/unternehmen).
fossil fuel or nucler fuel..it doesn’t help the environment..So what are we to do . It will be 20-50 years befor solar,air will replace them..Hydordams it hogs up a lot of water,farmers will suffer from no water,no crops no rice field..Now what ??..Phil n Jess
Interesting article.
If we didn’t have nuclear energy here in Arizona, my best guess would be more stress on the power grid, blackouts, and triple electric bills. The public utilities are already asking for price increases.
There’s a massive push for solar and wind power. Unfortunately, even the government incentives place alternative energy out of reach for most. The President advocates renewable energy and the U.S. will make great strides over time.
However, I prefer more portable technology. Some have gone as far as to buy the “do it yourself home turbine kits” that charge battery cells. Your home is powered by batteries storing energy from a wind turbine hooked up to a generator.
I’ve even seen on YouTube a guy who took a carburetor and two plastic drums to create enough energy to power tools in a shop behind his home.
There are a ton of examples that are affordable and useful with what’s already available regardless of where we live.
Ha! I found the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UPe6A_UVPc
Junior
Here’s Part #2 of the turbine video on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24LSnATIZhw
It won’t make a difference anyway what kind of power generation is used. In 20 years the people will have used up this beautiful island paradise and it will be uninhabitable. Conservation is the most needed item here in the Philippines. Electrical consumption is very wasteful here. All commercial Buildings need to be energy efficient.
In addition there are cleaner, safer, more efficient ways to produce energy than nuclear.Where will you get the engineers and qualified people to run this thing?????? The next thing will be a nuclear armed Philippines! What a waste of money.
Take the money and spend it on a high quality public school system so that every child gets an education.
Spend some of the money for a waste disposal system (human as well as garbage), that would employ alot of people. Think how much nicer it would be here if there were no more trash and garbage laying around everywhere. Tourism would even be more effective then.
I read a post here that some were concerned about hydro dams using up the water that farmers need. At the rate that the population is growing in the Philippines, it will be people living on the land that is available will be the real plight of the farmers. There is not enough food producing land here the way it is, let alone producing millions more people.
Real population control is what is needed. Of course the Catholic church will not help with that one, and would actually hinder it.
Nuclear Energy for the Philippines!!!!????? The money could certainly be better spent on directly helping the population. There are too many people that have nothing but a piece of cardboard to live on. Too many people and especially children begging for money, and I simply do not have the heart to turn them down.
Well, I guess it is a world wide problem with energy, but more pronounced in small countries like this one.
Hi David, thanks a lot for stopping by and for leaving your very interesting comment. 2025? Wow, that’s really still a long way to go.I think the main problem is really, that Bataan is in an earthquake soon.
Hi Reden, good question. David gave already an answer… .
Hi David, thanks again. Answering your question: I would say of course NOT!
Hi Chasdv, of course hydro and especially solar energy would be a much better solution. When we built up our houses in Davao in 1995 till 1997 I always researched for some acceptable solar energy offers. Result: zero. Of course, you are right, i also “faced it’ – but I would agree; it should be the last option. Thanks for your comment, chasdv.
Hi Hudson, thanks for your comment. Yeah. I have heard about the San Onofre Nuclear Powerplant, because some in laws of mine are living in L.A. and San Diego. Regarding the waste; yes, you are right, it’s a cost question. I am afraid, that there’ll be never enough money for such projects in the Philippines.
Hi Preben, honestly I haven’t yet see any news about windpower in the Philippines. Of course, it could be also a great additional option. I have been in Denmark and Sweden several times, and I was able to observe such ‘windmills’ many times – also at many places in North Germany. Thanks for your comment and best wishes to you in Denmark.
Hi Bryan – I’m with you, Nuclear is the best and cleanest way to generate the power that the world needs.
Hi Bryan G., thanks for your comment too. As I replied to Bob: my main concern is indeed maintenance etc. in the Philippines. Maybe I am wrong… .You and bob are right; it’s a safe method, if properly managed and regulated… .
Hi Klaus,
Yes i believe there are still great difficulties in acquiring suitable Solar power units in PI for individual use.I feel the technology is still in the infant stage but will improve with efficiency and affordability as time moves on.
You may be interested to know that one commercial generating company i know of, is making in roads with Solar in CDO.Checkout http://www.cepalco.com.ph and click on Solar Plant.
regards Chas.
Hi Chasdv, thanks for the link. I appreciate it very much and will it check asap.
Hi Bob, thanks for opinion. Many years ago I really would shared your opinion 100% while still living in Europe. I think I should have written a better explanation; since living in the Philippines I would go mostly with Bryan’s explanations, especially when it comes to maintenance and all this stuff here in the Philippines.That’s my concern.
Hi Kevin – I saw this “Nuclear Box” or whatever it is called on CNN about a year ago. It is amazing. A completely sealed box, can’t even be opened, and generates enough power for a small town. This is something that could benefit millions of people.
Hi Bob,
I think about the potential for countries like the Philippines. I think 20,000 American homes use as much electricity as 60,000 Philippine homes. At 5.5 people per household, that means one little box would provide power for a third of a million people. Five little boxes to provide the power for all of Davao City. No brown-outs, no internet interruptions due to uneven power generation. If I was on the board of directors of Davao Light spending billions of pesos on oil to generate electricity, I would have already ordered a few of these.
Hi Kevin K., thanks a lot for your comment and link. Very interesting indeed. I am also glad to learn more about that topic, although I am still not yet 100% convinced, when it comes to Nuclear Energy IN THE PHILIPPINES. But nobody knows – everything makes progress – your computer example shows it very well.
Hi Bryan G., another additional standpoint worth thinking about it. Thank you!
Hi Wolf Goehring, thank you very much for your comment. That’s exactly, what I was thinking about during my years in Germany (Europe) – and even up to now while living in the Philippines for good. Thanks for the link – also very interesting. Regards to your son. I’ll also check the website of sinosol.
Out of topic; thanks for your email. I am glad you found LIP through an incident via the website of the German Embassy in Manila. You can expect my soonest reply regarding your several questions. Best regards to Germany.
Hi, for the sake of physical truth: not the gas xenon, but crypton. Sorry, my mistake.
Hi Wolf Goehring, vielen Dank!!!
Hi Phil n Jess…now what? Good question. But 20 – 50 more years greading solar??? Heaven forbid!
Hi Junior, very interesting indeed. THANKS!
Hi Junior, interesting what you told us about Arizona. The thing is (not only in Arizona!): government incentives indeed place alternative energy out of the reach for most – worldwide. Sure, there are really tons of examples being useful and affordable. Let’s give them a try – even it’s only in our own surroundings. Thanks Junior!