Former Senator Antonio Trillanes III, who is running for senator under the ticket of Vice President Leni Robredo, warned against the revival of the controversial Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, saying that it is just a “shell” and that there’s basically nothing there that can benefit the country.
His remarks came amid calls to find other sources of energy because the Philippines solely depends on imported crude oil, making the economy vulnerable to outside factors such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In one of the missions of the Philippine Navy, Trillanes revealed that the BNNP has been set aside because there’s nothing there anymore.
“It’s basically a shell and it’s placed in a fault line so the safety is questionable,” he said Wednesday on One News’ The Chiefs, adding that it is not a “quick fix” to the country’s energy woes.
The BNPP was a project of former President Ferdinand Marcos and was never used because of President Cory Aquino's issues on safety and cronyism hurled against Marcos.
But former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the presidential survey frontrunner, floated the idea of reviving the project, saying that politics ruined the nuclear power program.
READ: BBM to revisit Bataan nuclear plant’s repowering
“Tapos (Then) the technology is first generation so kung mag-e-explore tayo ng (if we are going to explore) nuclear energy, back to zero tayo. Yung iba kasi since akala nandyan na, isi-switch on nalang. Hindi po. Kinahoy na ‘yan (Others think that since it’s there, we just need to switch it on. It’s not like that. That has been stripped off). We took out the uranium,” Trillanes explained.
Calling the Philippines a “newbie” in nuclear energy, the former Navy officer said that it’s “going to be very risky” for the country to revive the BNPP because “we are very vulnerable to all sorts of calamities.”
Instead of nuclear energy, Trillanes identified safe alternative energy sources such as solar, tidal, wind, and even waste.
“I believe ang (the) trend ngayon sa (now in the) global community is renewable energy na eh. And the technology is there. Kailangan lang natin bigyan ng (We just need to give it a) push,” he said, explaining that the government has to “invest” in renewable sources of energy since there is an existing incentives as stated in the Renewable Energy Act.
“Kasi ang daming (There are a lot of) renewable energy sources in this part of the world pero hindi natin na-o-optimize (but we cannot optimize them). That way, ‘yung dependence natin sa (our dependence on) fuel will be less and less until we become free from the bondage altogether,” Trillanes added.