BALANGA CITY — Bataan is no longer suited for a nuclear power plant unlike more than 40 years ago when construction of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in Morong town started, Gov. Jose Enrique Garcia III said Monday.
The governor welcomed the move of the national government to study all options not only on the BNPP but on nuclear power in the country because, he said, there were many changes in Bataan in the last 40 years.
He said that even they (municipal, provincial and congressional officials) are looking for the alternative use of BNPP.
Construction in Napot Point of the 620-megawatt BNPP started in 1976 during the administration of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. and mothballed in 1986 when then President Corazon Aquino assumed power.
“Nandito sa Bataan ang ibang critical industries and facilities na dati 40 years ago ay wala naman kaya sa ngayon mukhang dapat pag-aralan talaga. Una, kung kaya pa ba ng isang 40-year-old plant na mapatakbo at ma-activate muli,” the governor said.
“Pangalawa, tama pa rin ba na dito sa Bataan dapat ilagay ang isang nuclear power plant considering na napakaraming critical facilities like coal power plants, Bataan oil refinery, mga economic zones, government arsenal na kung sakaling magkaroon ng problema ang nuclear power ay siguradong maapektuhan din ang mga ito,” Garcia furthered.
He said that Congress and the national government should continue on looking for options that will be of benefit to the country.
Garcia explained that if problems arise in the operation of the BNPP, it will result to the shutting down of all critical and private facilities in Bataan that will greatly affect the country.
What he sees as an alternative to the BNPP is its conversion into a cloud computing data center facility.
“Ang mga data center ngayon ay malakas kumain ng energy at mataas ang heat na napo-produce ng mga servers kaya naman ang tinitingnan naming technology dito ay ang water-cooled data centers na nakakatuwa dahil isang Filipino inventor ang nagsimula nito o nag-imbento nito sa Silicon Valley,” Garcia said.
“Ang sine-set na protype na sistema ay ang data center na pinalamig ng tubig na galing sa dagat at iba’t ibang source ng tubig kaya bagay na bagay sa ating nuclear power plant kasi ito ay water-cooled din mula sa mga tubong galing sa dagat,” the governor added.
He said that the BNPP as a cloud facility center may become one of the biggest data centers, the most efficient and less energy consumption.
“At the tip of my mind, para lamang na lamang itong alternative kaysa paandarin ang BNPP pagdating sa economic opportunities hindi lang sa ating mga kababayan sa Bataan kundi pati na rin sa lahat ng Filipino,” Garcia said.
