Philippines to seek Japan help in fixing nuke plant

Manila A top Philippine government official said that one of President Gloria Arroyo's key aims in her state visit to Japan was to secure technical assistance in reviving the country's mothballed nuclear power plant in the province of Bataan.

News reports from Tokyo where the Philippine leader is on the third day of her four-day visit quoted Press Secretary Cerge Remonde as saying that Arroyo is mulling the possibility of sending Filipino experts to Japan to undergo training on operating the decades old but never-used nuclear power plant.

Remonde added that the Philippine Department of Energy is also studying the option of reviving the 621 megawatt power plant to meet the country's energy requirements.

In January last year, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes revealed that a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspected the power plant to determine if the facility can still be used.

In its report, the IAEA recommended the power plant's status must be thoroughly evaluated by experts.

According to economists, the Philippines needs to diversify its power sources and limit its dependence on oil for it to maintain economic growth.

As fossil fuel sources become increasingly scarce, the government is looking at reviving the nuclear power plant to help satisfy the country's energy needs.

Although nearly completed in 1985, the $2.3 billion (Dh8.4 billion) power plant has yet to produce energy as its operation was scuttled by events such as the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine and the ouster of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

The Bataan nuclear power plant was among the flagship projects of the former Philippine strongman, who had ordered the construction of the light water reactor in 1976 at the height of an energy crisis.

Almost a year after Marcos' ouster, a new constitution ordered drafted by his successor, President Corazon Aquino, which enshrined the ban against the use of nuclear energy, was ratified in plebiscite.

Since then efforts to revive the Bataan nuclear power plant had been met with stiff opposition from anti-nuclear power and Left-wing groups.

They argued that Manila should first allow the Supreme Court to settle the constitutionality of lifting the ban on the use of nuclear power before any steps to revive the power plant can be undertaken.