Prof Winnie Monsod tackled the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant issue on her Analysis segment at QTV and based from that its easy to discern that she seems to be in favor of its reopening.
Solita Monsod was once head of NEDA during the time of the Aquino administration so she knows the issue by heart, since the decision to shelve the power plant came during her tenure in government. Her stand at that time was that as long as the BNPP’s safety issues were resolved satisfactorily, BNPP’s operating cost would be much lower than regular power plants. The cost of the BNPP was not considered anymore during their evaluation because it was already classified as sunken cost.
Her take on the Earthquake and fault issue was that it was well within the safety limits set by Philvocs for a nuclear power plant. That’s Ok I suppose if you treat like a footnote the fact that one of main issues for the opposition of the BNPP was the faulty design.
She points out that Japan should be considered as a basis for reassurance of the track record of reliability of nuclear power plants operating in earth quake prone areas since Japan is a country that has a lot of earthquakes. But don’t the Japanese always “over design” what ever it is they build? The oppositionists will just counter this with the faulty or “under-design” of the BNPP. The report also states that between 1970 ~1992 there have been far more deaths in regular power plant than in nuclear power plant.
She also says that the plan of Rep Conjuangco to evaluate first the power plant is reasonable enough. Yeah, but not to the people who are footing the bill for that I suppose. Considering that there was already a previous report made for the Senate during the Aquino administration, oppositionists will just point out that we should consider using that report.
Category: Nuclear, Law
