Home News Catholic bishop hits proposed rehabilitation of Philippines' mothballed nuclear plant

Catholic bishop hits proposed rehabilitation of Philippines’ mothballed nuclear plant

In February, President Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order adopting a nuclear energy program for the country

The Catholic bishop of the northern Philippine province of Balanga has expressed strong opposition to proposals to rehabilitate the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

“They know very well the real situation and condition of BNPP,” said Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga. “It is sitting on a dormant volcano,” he said over Radio Veritas 846 on Monday.

“Our future, or our future on energy, is not on BNPP,” he said. “It is danger and destruction,” he added.



Last month, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order adopting a nuclear energy program for the country.

Part of Executive Order (EO) 64 is a recommendation to revive the BNPP.

Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, who is running for president this year, is also keen on reviving the BNPP if he becomes president.

“It is dead issue here,” said Bishop Santos, speaking from his diocese.

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“No one is talking about its rehabilitation nor any political candidate here campaigns for opening/study of the Bataan nuclear power plant,” he said.

The prelate said the nuclear plant “will never produce added electricity and the cost of rehabilitation will only be ways and means for graft and corruption as its construction is founded on greed.”

In 2018, Bishop Santos said the issue of the revival of the mothballed BNPP should be put to “eternal rest.”

He said that reviving the BNPP is a waste of money as it will not be beneficial to the country, adding that it is “not functional, defective, and dangerous.”

Built during the years of martial law, the 620-megawatt BNPP in Morong, Bataan, was never activated following the Chernobyl disaster in Russia in 1986.

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