Only 5-6 sites are viable for nuclear power projects – DOE

LONDON, England – There are only 5-6 sites that are currently viable to host nuclear power projects based on initial assessments done by various relevant government agencies, according to Energy Undersecretary Sharon S. Garin.

She noted in an interview here that of the 11 sites previously identified by the Department of Energy (DOE), only half have passed the criteria as potential sites for future nuclear power installations.

Garin indicated that the mandated criteria and parameters for siting would take into account that: the area is not traversing quake fault line; it shall be within warranted distance from a volcano and there is also prescription that the plant shall not be built very close to a community.

She added that “for some nuclear technologies, there is also a requirement that they shall be installed close to a body of water.”

The energy official did not specify the 5-6 sites, but in the DOE’s roll as targeted nuclear power sites are those in: Labrador, Pangasinan; Mariveles, Bataan; Aroroy, Masbate; Concepcion and Tagabrungis in Puerto Princesa, Palawan; Cansilan Point in Bayawan, Negros Oriental; Ubay, Bohol; Kauit Point and Piacan Point in Siraway, Zamboanga del Norte; then Bislig in Surigao del Sur.

“There are only 5 or 6 sites that are feasible right now, because there are requirements of international organizations and also our own that were not met in some areas -- like there is minimum kilometers from a volcano or proximity to fault lines or proximity to communities – those are some of the variables that had been evaluated,” she reiterated.

Given probable limitation on prospective project sites, Garin stated that the government will be extending their assessments of targeted project sites, including domains in the northern part of the country.

“We can do assessment in other areas, and we will apply the criteria that we already established… we want to do more assessments up north – like in the Ilocos region,” she expounded.

Garin qualified “our assessments of the sites are just preliminary – what we are trying to do here is: it’s not exactly that the investors shall be putting up the plants in those exact sites that we assessed; but what we’re doing is establishing a template as to what kind of sites are tenable for nuclear – at the end of the day, the investors can still choose their preferred site subject to the criteria prescribed by the government,” she stressed.

The DOE official further said “we’re all considering all of these in our assessments of project sites, that’s why there are some sites in our initial assessments that didn’t make the cut.”

For the interested investors in nuclear power projects, she emphasized “they can apply anywhere in the Philippines, but we would be using the prescribed criteria in assessing all of these sites before we will give go-signal to their projects.”

And once nuclear power projects will already come in as part of the energy mix, she conveyed that there is also a recommendation from the DOE that the future nuclear regulatory agency sanctioned by law will do re-evaluation of these project sites.