Early this month it was reported that the government’s Natl’ Power Corp (Napocor) was finally reviewing the proposal of Kepco for the rehabilitation of the controversial Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). It was estimated to cost about $1 Billion to rehabilitate the moth-balled power plant and make it running again.
Since it is political season again in the Philippines, most presidential candidates have expressed opposition to the re-opening of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. But of course that is just all talk, we will know for sure whether the buck really stops there once the winner is elected into office.
One thing that the Philippines should be looking into when discussing the feasibility of the BNPP is the prospect of terrorists using the waste fuel from the nuclear power plant to make a dirty bomb. Since when we talk about security in a nuclear power plant it shouldn’t be limited to just preventing anything from happening to the plant itself (be it natural or man-made).
I chanced upon this thought when I was reading last week Maria Ressa’s Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda’s Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia. The book points out that terrorists were investigating the possibility of creating a dirty bomb from nuclear waste. A dirty bomb is basically a conventional bomb packed with nuclear waste. The purpose of which is not to create a nuclear explosion but rather to spew out the radiated waste as well as do some physical damage. Clean up of the radioactive waste will last for over a year. Now imagine a financial district or some important area being laid desolate for a year because of this.
Something to consider really when discussing the security for a Nuclear Power Plant.
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Category: Nuclear
