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The Philippines Needs Nuclear Energy

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The Philippines Needs Nuclear Energy
The Philippines Needs Nuclear Energy

When the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Luzon grid under yellow, then red alert, which meant there was a real danger of not having enough electricity to go around and typically resulted in rotating brownouts, Filipinos received a stark reminder of how poor our power generation capabilities are.

The abrupt warning from the NGCP shows that the nation isn’t producing enough electricity to support our expanding economy. Nuclear energy offers a potential remedy for the Philippines’ energy problems.

But before we do, it’s essential to understand why we don’t have enough power and what might be causing supply fluctuations. In the case of yesterday, it resulted from both forced outages and insufficient power generating capacity. Given that many of the power plants in Luzon are somewhat old, forced outages are frequent.

Only coal-fired plants are relatively recent, except for the one in Calaca. Our hydro, geothermal, and oil plants are decades old. For instance, Angat Dam began operating in 1967.

More maintenance is needed as power plants age, and they stop producing electricity whenever they undergo maintenance (whether planned or unplanned).

In addition to being old, Luzon’s power plants are also relatively dirty; outside of the six large hydropower plants, we primarily rely on coal, oil, and natural gas-powered facilities to generate our electricity. These produce significant amounts of greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere, which is a serious issue because it hastens the process of global warming. Since our nation is more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, we should reduce greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible.

We then come to nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is one of the cleanest power sources currently available to humankind, despite associated risks. As much as the doomsayers would like to parade the horrors of Chornobyl and Fukushima to anyone who would care to listen, the statistics don’t lie.

Aside from the two above, no major nuclear incidents have resulted in either radioactive contamination of the plant’s surroundings or loss of life directly related to power generation activities. There have been 18,500 cumulative reactor years of commercial nuclear power operation in 36 countries.

Nuclear energy produces significantly more electricity than comparable clean energy sources while being just as safe as wind and solar power.

I can see why people are wary of using nuclear energy, especially considering the abandoned and expensive Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. However, given how safe, modern atomic reactors are and how much the world has learned from the Fukushima disaster, this failure shouldn’t negatively affect nuclear power in the present day.

Giving the Philippines access to nuclear power may be a good idea if we want more affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy sources.

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