I was recently interviewed by Greenpeace’s University of the Philippines chapter about my opinions on the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) and nuclear power in general. I told the students that nuclear power is safe and more people have died in accidents and incidents involving conventional power plants than nuclear ones. I told the students that they should look at the morbidity and mortality rates associated with conventional power plants especially in China. Then they should give themselves time to THINK!
The scientific fact is nuclear power is relatively safe. However there is a catch and those against or for nuclear power should know. A nuclear accident may result in significant loss of life and consequent environmental disaster. This was terribly shown in the Chernobyl accident in 1986. But the Chernobyl accident was a tragic confluence of human error and outdated Soviet Union technology. The whole incident as described in Wikipedia involved testing a cooling safety device that required a flow of coolant water run by diesel pumps. A 60 second delay in kicking in the pumps led to a catastrophic meltdown. Also there were problems in communication between engineers manning work shifts.
Also the Chernobyl plant had no containment structure typical of Soviet plants. In the West, these structures are required. So when the steam built up the roof of the nuclear plant was ripped apart and the resulting steam explosion hurled the graphite moderators and control rods flying everywhere. It has to be emphasized that nuclear reactor doesn’t do a Hiroshima (as often dished out in the blurbs), they melt. In the case of Chernobyl, the steam explosion caused a massive radioactive fallout.
It is obvious that the Cory regime mothballed the BNPP for two reasons 1) It is a Marcos creation and 2) the Chernobyl accident. The first one is expected. The Cory regime abolished many of the good done by the Marcos regime and gave us the mess we have now (that’s another story!) We shall now examine the Chernobyl argument with the current debate on the BNPP’s rehabilitation and operation.
Again the whole brouhaha reflects the lack of science literacy in Philippine society. Now we are not at odds with the religions that DJB is crusading or jihading against, but a more irritating and modern belief system, Environmentalism built on ideology and half truths!
The tragedy is that the debate has focused on rehashed arguments dating back from the Cold War. These are 1) seismic vulnerability, 2) a dormant volcano and 3) safety and security concerns. The problem is that Greenpeace and other greenies uses these as arguments without much scientific or even logical basis and yet they say that there is an “abuse of science”. If there was an abuse of science, the greenies like Greenpeace are guilty of it. Read this op ed. How can BNPP be a Philippine Chernobyl when Three Mile Island’s accidents have nothing to do with Chernobyl? Linking this to BNPP is a stretch of illogical thinking. It is more logical to blame Natib volcano (which hasn’t blown its top in thousands of years)!
Now where is the new science that will tell us 1) if Natib is likely to erupt 2) if frequent are earthquakes in Napot Point and can the reactor sustain seismic shock, 3) if it is economically feasible to run it despite it was a bad loan?
Then we can look at Japan and France’s experience. Despite the risks, how come they still use nuclear power especially in earthquake shaky Japan? As for uranium and petroleum, don’t we learn in Physics 1 that there is more energy from 1 gm of U than 1 gm of petroleum? True both are nonrenewables but one gives us more energy. As for security, are the threats to a nuclear plant in the Philippines the same as what is dealt to Globe cell sites? Can we ensure that our nuclear plant is not a military target?
Perhaps Edcel Lagman is the only sane party in this debate. He suggests that the Cojuangco bill focus on reassessing this 1970s era plant and coming up with the appropriate recommendation based on 21st century science. And once more the unbalancedness and lack of science literacy in the Inquirer rears its large head again.
When asked for my personal opinion on the BNPP, I told the students this. In this promising 21st century where the technologies for renewables are there, why are we even considering nuclear power using 1970s technology? If we go nuke, shouldn’t go fast breeder? Don’t you suspect that some contractor-congressman wanting to get a commission?
Now there you really don’t need science to get to the truth!
Popularity: 3% [?]
“On November 21, 2006, the seven participants formally agreed to fund the project.[1] The program is anticipated to last for 30 years — 10 for construction, and 20 of operation — and cost approximately US$ 9.3 billion [2], which would make it one of the most expensive modern technoscientific megaprojects. Site preparation has begun in Cadarache, France and procurement of large components has started. First plasma operation is expected in 2018.”-Wikipedia: Fusion power
“Filipino Scientist claims that deuterium is abundant in the Philippines by natural process. Is this true?”
“The Philippines is identified to hold the greatest amount of deuterium deposit, somewhere in the area known as Mindanao Trench, the part of the Pacific Ocean just off the shores of Surigao. Deuterium is most prevalent in an area more widely known in the whole world as The Philipppine Deep. In the Freeman news article (dated August 2004), Dr. Anthony B. Halog, the Filipino scientist working at the Sustainable Technology Office of the Institute for Chemical Process and Environmental Technology, and the National Research Council of Canada described the Philippine deuterium wealth in this manner:
“A big deposit of 868 miles long, 52 miles at widest point, and 3 miles at deepest point, replenished by nature 24 hours a day after deuterium travels more than 12,000 kilometers from Central America to the Philippines through the span of the Pacific Ocean when Planet Earth turns on its axis from West to East in unending perpetual motion.”
Calling DJB and Blackshama, please, is this a myth?
Do you guys think ITER a good potential as a source of power? If yes, does the Mindanao Trench a good advantage for us re this technology?
How do you process deuterium ores into finished
product for Nuclear Fuel Rods ?
We have a lot of iron ores. Yet, we dont have
a single workable steel smelter plant.
We are a century behind in technology compared
to those fully industrialized nations.
To sell those deuterium ores, and buy them back
in expensive finished products does not make sense.
To rephrase the question: Do you think ITER will result to developing a viable engine that will relieve the world of its dependence on fissile and fossil fuel for its power requirements?
Fusion is still way off before commercialization. Did you not notice the current price tag? This price will come down with success and commercialization.
When, and how long will that take? Only God knows.
In the meantime, nuclear power will provide mankind with a bridge to these kinds of technologies.
How long does the bridge have to be?
If between 50 to beyond 1,000 years, nuclear power with reprocessing, breeding and thorium will be capable of taking us there.
I agree. My estimate is that fusion will be viable only for the next generation (16 to 30 years from now). For now, we need fission to tide us over.
Deuterium in the Philippine deep is a myth.
Although heavier than ordinary water, deuterium oxide (heavy water) does not have enough of a weight difference to stratify and settle out at the bottom.
This myth has been circulating for decades and it makes me cringe whenever I hear it on TV. Its just one more “unobtainium” being bandied about be the “well intentioned”.
I had some friends who were heavy into the Fusion R&D in the late 70s and if I recall we should’ve had working fusion reactors by now. But the stars have not quite given up all their secrets it seems and we may have a ways to go before sustainable ignition.
Even the four-to-one surplus of thorium to uranium might not even replace the energy drawn from oil imports by the U.S. alone! For China alone to gain the same per capita resource consumption rates of the U.S., it will need more than half of the world’s resources.
Also, the Philippines already has much difficulty dealing with more basic infrastructure such as road or school building or resolving basic issues in health care or national security (or even in basic education and food security!) it will have much difficulty dealing with nuclear power operations. And let’s not even talk about corruption and problems with current infrastructure projects!
The way I see it, if we can work on much simpler projects like wind and solar power or even geothermal energy, then we will probably be able to advance to nuclear power. Until then, enough with the fantasies!
BNPP is not fantasy. It is 620 MW just waiting to happen.
It has sister plants which are, at this very moment generating cheap, reliable, environmentally friendly and, safe power for the people they serve. They have been doing so for over 25 years now.
I have given data on wind, solar earlier on. You need to take a look back thru this blog.
They can not compete. They are supplementary and complementary to base load plants. They CANNOT be replacements.
Geothermal also has its issues which were also discussed earlier in the blog.
The only baseload choices are; hydro, fossil, nuclear. Since our land mass is not continental (it is relatively small), our rainfall catching ability is relatively small and hence our hydro resources have limits as baseload.
That leaves fossil and nuclear. Since it has been shown that the environmental damage (global warming, pollution) caused by fossil is a certainty, and that fossil is radioactive and nuclear is not, and nuclear is much cheaper in forex and per kwh generating cost, the choice to go nuclear is very clear. We must go nuclear now!
We must establish a national energy policy which has nuclear as part of the energy mix.
We must become aware of the coming carbon taxes which the rest of the world is bound to impose for its survival, for our survival. When this happens, nuclear will become far and ahead, the only energy option.
This will remain true until something else comes along, or the renewables and electric storage technology matures and becomes economical.
An understanding of the true risks and a realistic sense of proportion in the assesment of the risks which we are already taking today, without nuclear, is in order. As it will put nuclear in a much more favourable light.
I hope that you will all have an open mind. Our future depends on it.
This is my last entry. You may reach us at: bnppmark@gmail.com
Switch it on, see if its 50 megatons waiting to happen. If it does then we glow in the dark, if not, then let the good times roll.
The Nuclear Power is safe, on the recent updated
design. For developed countries who have the
Technology. How much does it cost for the Nuclear
Plant to upgrade Design ? For finishing the whole
Project ? For its maintenance ? Billions of
U.S. Dollars.
We are already in the Hole in debt with this
White Elephant Project.
What do you do when you are in a Hole ? You dont
dig yourself deeper into the Hole. You dig yourself out of the Hole. Cut out your loses
and run away from the Hole. This is the most
sensible thing to do.
What will be the cost of the disposal of the
spent Uranium 235 fuel rods ? Another millions
of U.S. dollars ?
This project is expensive. It will only give
Power to Luzon. How about the Visayas and
Mindanao. You cannot string Power Lines from
Island to Island. So, you build Nuclear Plants
on every Island ? A bonehead will do that…
So, the project is no good…