Pangasinan 2nd district Rep. Mark Cojuangco, in a privilege speech before the House plenary on Monday, Aug. 1, underscored the need to adopt nuclear power in the Philippines.

Cojuango, in a speech explaining the urgency and imperative need for the Philippines to develop nuclear energy, contended that gross domestic product (GDP) would increase incrementally through lowered energy prices.

“Indeed, if the Philippines did not have power shortages post-1986, and consequently had lower electricity prices, would it not be then plausible to assume that we could have increased our GDP by an incremental, just an additional one percent for each of the years post-1986 until today,” Cojuango said.

“If we accept this premise, does it not imply that our economy should not be at least 36 percent larger than it is today? Our 2021 GDP was P21.6-trillion, 36 percent larger is P29.38-trillion–P7.78-trillion just for 2021 alone,” he said.

The lawmaker then cited the Philippines’ first attempt at nuclear power: the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

The BNPP began construction in 1976 and was completed in 1984. It has been favorably endorsed by the IAEA-OSART (International Atomic Energy Agency-Operational Safety and Review Team) according to Cojuangco.

“Our 100 percent BNPP completed its hot functional testing in March of 1984, generating approximately five megawatts on and off for several months, proving that was and is not the white elephant that its detractors make it out to be,” Cojuangco continued.

He said that the BNPP is among four early nuclear power plants designed by nuclear power company Westinghouse: the Angra-1 NPP in Brazil, Krsko NPP in Slovenia, and Kori NPP in Korea. The lawmaker added that the other three were still functional and were award-winning plants.

Cojuangco further alleged that the BNPP had been shut down for political reasons.

He added in his speech that nuclear power was both the cleanest, safest form of energy on top of solar and wind, and that it could provide cheaper energy versus other conventional sources.

“If we exclude Chernobyl because it had no containment and which has an all time casualty rate of less than 50 since 1986, these charts would read zero for nuclear. The implication is that nuclear has already saved over two million lives by all of other forms of energy wherever it is located. The other implication is that coal and other plants that we have allowed and permitted all over the Philippines have caused a few thousand premature deaths among Filipinos since 1986,” Cojuangco said.

“For each gigawatt of nuclear capacity we build, we will avoid at least $600 million of coal and energy importation per year,” he added.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. says his administration is eyeing a return to nuclear power.

Read: https://mb.com.ph/2022/07/25/presidents-energy-plan-includes-nuclear-power-plants-renewables/