Bataan Nuclear

Power Plant

FEBRUARY 2

Smartinfo Philippines
Authored by: Odilon T. Sta Teresa

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The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
Background

The Philippines is the first ASEAN Member State (AMS) to build a nuclear power
plant.

In response to the oil crisis in 1973, the Philippines decided to build the Bataan
Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) sits on a
389-hectare protected land at Napot Point, a peninsula in the west coast of
Morong, Bataan, at the Luzon island.

Had the plant been operational, its 623 MW electrical capacity could have
provided at least 10% of the present power requirements for the Luzon grid. It
took almost 8 years to construct, but then it has been on preservation mode
since 1986 at a cost of US$1 million a year for the maintenance.

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Historical Milestones

July 1973: the Philippines’ economy was under a lot of pressure due to the oil crisis. With the
intention of finding an alternative energy source, President Marcos decided in July 1973 to
construct a nuclear power plant (NPP).

February 1976: the beginning of the construction process. A Contract was signed between the
National Power Corporation of the Philippines and Westinghouse Electric Company, USA.

June 1979: Construction suspended in wake of Three Mile Island (TMI) accident in March 1979.

January 1981: Construction resumed after the project undertook a comprehensive study and
assessment on the safety aspect of the Plant’s design.

May 1984: Construction completed. The BNPP was supposed to generate 623 MW of
electricity. Hot functional tests were completed and the Plant was ready for initial
synchronization to the grid.

July 1984: Construction appraisal review by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
mission on Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) I. The OSART is a procedure that begins
with a request from implementing country. The IAEA coordinates an international team of
experts to review the operational safety performance of the requesting country’s NPP.

February 1985: IAEA OSART II operational readiness review. Although it identified issues and
made recommendations, the IAEA said the Plant’s construction met international standards.
After the second inspection, the IAEA said that the plant was ready to receive fuel and begin
start-up testing for its commercial operation.

April 1986: the Marcos regime ended and Aquino became president. The Chernobyl accident
happened in the same year, which caused Aquino’s administration to mothball the Plant. Since
then, the Plant was placed under preservation (until now).

2007: the Philippines Department of Energy (DOE) set up a project to study the development
of nuclear energy, in the context of an overall energy plan for the country. Nuclear energy would
be considered in order to reduce the country’s dependency on imported oil and coal. The
Government of the Philippines (GoP) is considering to rehabilitate BNPP by virtue of Senate
Bill No. 580, filed at the Sixteenth (16th) Congress.

February 2008: IAEA mission to Bataan. In 2008 an IAEA mission commissioned by the GoP
advised that Bataan-1 could be refurbished and operated economically and safely for 30 years.
The IAEA also recommended a policy framework for nuclear power development in the country.

December 2008: a joint cooperation between the National Power Corporation (NPC) of the
Philippines and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) was established to conduct a

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feasibility study on reactivating BNPP. Its preliminary recommendation was that BNPP should
be refurbished.

August 2016: the Secretary of Energy said that the 2007 taskforce would be reinstated to
reconsider commissioning BNPP in the future.

Present Status
The government of the Philippines has yet to establish its position on whether or not to pursue
nuclear for power generation in the long-term. In this context, the government is looking and
considering various options before a critical decision is made.

Considering the very expensive fully paid and idle asset at hand, and the country’s need to
educate more people on the benefits of the peaceful use of atomic energy, the GoP opened
BNPP to the public in 2008, as part of the Government’s information, education and
communication programme on nuclear power. Plant briefings and tours became daily activities
at the Plant. The BNPP provides visitors with a basic knowledge on nuclear energy, information
on the importance and competitiveness of nuclear energy, also the history of the Plant. The
briefings are followed with a tour to show the Plant’s major components like the steam generator
building, reactor building, and control room.

Thereafter, the BNPP has been a yearly field trip and study tour destination for schools,
universities, and other institutions. The BNPP is listed as one of Bataan’s tourist attractions by
the Department of Tourism of Central Luzon, and has been opened to public, particularly
students, in order to raise awareness on nuclear energy. (Featured photo: Bataan Nuclear
Power Plant1

Sidebar Studies:

The Controversy of the

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant2
Teo Camacho
May 24, 2017

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https://aseanenergy.org/asean-nuclear-series-part-1-the-first-nuclear-power-station-in-asean/
2
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph241/camacho2/
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Submitted as coursework for PH241, Stanford University, Winter 2017

Background
The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) is an
interesting case study of nuclear energy.
Completed back in 1980s and costing $2.2
billion, the BNPP currently stands in Morong,
Bataan, atop Napot Point that overlooks the
West Philippine Sea (as seen in Fig. 1).
However, it never achieved its goal of
generating 623 MW of electricity. The BNPP is
currently the only nuclear power plant in the
Philippines and more interestingly, was still the
only nuclear plant in the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as of 2014.
[1] Fig. 1: Battan Nuclear Power Plant.
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Nuclear energy first came to the forefront of
Philippine politics back in the 1950s when the U.S. gave the Philippines a nuclear fission
reactor. [2] The government then formally established a nuclear program in 1958 under the
Philippine Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). The BNPP was then proposed in the 1960s
and approved under the Marcos regime (1965 - 1986) in July of 1973. The final contract was
given to Westinghouse Electric. The project was completed in 1984. [2]

Controversy
Before, during, and after the construction of the BNPP, this power plant was surrounded by
controversy. From President Marcos's connection to Westinghouse, to the dispute of General
Electric and Westinghouse, to issues of following protocol during and after construction, the
BNPP faced many issues that led to criminal charges being brought against Westinghouse.
The whole controversy was described in detail by Dumaine two years after the plant's
completion. [3]

One of the biggest controversies was the Marcos connection with Westinghouse. First,
Marcos requested that National Power Co. (the government owned electric utility) negotiate
a deal to buy two nuclear reactors. Westinghouse used connections to Marcos to strike the
deal. Already known to be more expensive than other options, the Westinghouse contract
jumped from $650 million for only one reactor to $2.2 billion. Later, evidence of large sums
of money going to President Marcos himself was found. Westinghouse denied corruption
accusations. [3]

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Another controversy was how Westinghouse was able to gain the contract over General
Electric. It is documented that National Power was negotiating with General Electric before
Westinghouse came into the picture. However, once the connections between Westinghouse
and the Marcos regime were established by Hermino Disini, a friend of the president himself,
General Electric appeared to be strung along, as thought they were still in contention even
though they actually were not. There is documentation that contract negotiations began before
General Electric could pitch its proposal to the government. [3]

Additionally, there were issues during and after the construction of how Ebasco Services
(hired for safety testing) were observing protocol. Librado Ibe, Marcos' top nuclear expert
questioned Ebasco's work of checking the siting. He is documented as saying that he was
offered bribes to approve the site for construction and reluctantly did end up issuing the
construction permit in 1979. [3] After the construction was completed in 1984, William
Albert, an advisor from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was brought in by
new Aquino government to do inspections. Albert brought up issues of welding, working
hours, base plates, pipe hangers, water values, and transmission cables. He attibuted all these
shortcomings to quality control. Even though these issues were brought up to National Power,
who had the final say whether the plant was to be operable or not, there is no evidence that
the structural issues were dealt with appropriately. [3]

Current News
Currently, there are talks about the Philippines reviving the BNPP. This is mainly because of
Philippine energy needs. [4] The talks about reopening the BNPP are being debated in the
Senate, and there are voices on both sides of the issue. Proponents for reinstating the plant
say that the energy source is cheap and that after the initial investment to upgraded the plant
and it can help with the issue of the supply of electricity. However, opponents staunchly
disagree saying that the revival of the plant is too expensive even to consider and that the
money would be better spent on other electricity generation projects. [4]

Nevertheless, scientists are also still considering the plant's siting issues. There is still
uncertainty about the eruption history of Mt. Natib, a volcano only a few miles away. Because
of this problem and the proximity to active faults, seismologist are proposing to set up more
sensors to do testing before reconsidering opening the BNPP to electric generation. [5]
However, proponents of reinstating the plant as soon as possible point out the the BNPP was
allegedly built to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis. [1] It is clear that the issue of the
Bataan Nuclear Power Plant will be talked about in the Philippines for months and years to
come as the country tries to deal with supplying electricity to a continually growing
population.

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© Teo Camacho. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in
unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other
rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.

References
[1] J. P. Terry and J. R. Goff, Natural Hazards in the Asia-Pacific Region: Recent Advances
and Emerging Concepts (Geological Society of London, 2012).

[2] A. Volentik et al., "Aspects of Volcanic Hazard Assessment For the Bataan Nuclear
Power Plant, Luzon Peninsula, Philippines," in Volcanic and Tectonic Hazard Assessment for
Nuclear Facilities, ed. by C. B. Conner, N. A. Chapman and L. J. Conner (Cambridge
University Press, 2009), pp. 229-256.

[3] B. Dumaine, "The $2.2 Billion Nuclear Fiasco," Fortune, 1 Sep 86.

[4] D. L. Lucas, "Duterte Gives Nuke Plant Green Light," Philippine Daily Inquirer, 12 Nov
16.

[5] J. R. Uy, "Scientists Want Faults, Volcano near Nuke Plant Studied," Philipine Daily
Inquirer, 2 Dec 16

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https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/12/613/12613423.pdf
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