The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. discussed last May 23 with South Korea Ambassador Kim Inchul the possible revival of the 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant which was one of the pet projects of his father, Ferdinand Sr.
The mothballed nuclear plant cost some US$2.3billion to build and was abandoned nearly 40 years ago.
The Bataan plant never got operational amidst safety concerns following the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear plant incident in the U.S, and the 1986 Chernobyl plant meltdown in the Soviet Union.
One of former President Corazon Aquino’s first acts when she assumed power in 1986 was to order the shut-down of the plant.
During the recent election campaign, Bongbong Marcos repeatedly said he supports the use of nuclear power to address the country’s high price of electricity which remains a major issue in the country until today.
The President-elect is expected to include the restart of the Bataan nuclear plant in his June 30 inaugural address.
In a recent press briefing, he said, “can we continue with it or do we need to build a new one? What are the things that we will have to do?”
He added that he will study recommendations as well as findings and see what is applicable.
However, analysts cautioned Marcos Jr with the high cost of restarting the project that could reach more than US$1 billion. The plant may also take a minimum of four years to be operational while the location has been deemed prone to earthquakes due to its proximity to volcanic activities.