Too Late? Bataan Nuclear Power Plant is ‘beyond revival’

With its revival still in the air, Russian Ambassador Igor Khovaev said that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) is ‘beyond revival.’

“The safety standards, [the] international standards are much, much higher than the standards on which the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was built. So I think it’s not possible at all,” Khovaev said in a report by CNN Philippines, adding that the technology that BNPP holds is “absolutely outdated.”

This statement follows Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom, who conducted an assessment of the BNPP in August to determine whether it was still fit for commissioning.

Rosatom also announced earlier that they would look into the possibility of a land-based and floating nuclear power plant in the country.

But, Khovaev disclaimed that there are no nuclear-related projects in the pipeline, neither is the revival of the BNPP.

It’s not in our agenda… simply because the Philippine government didn’t request us to do that,” Khovaev told CNN.

“The final say always belongs to the Philippines’ side,” he added.

In 2017, the Department of Energy and Rosatom signed an agreement for a cooperation that covers various uses of nuclear energy.

The BNPP was constructed under the regime of former president Ferdinand Marcos, but was shut down because of corruption issues and fear following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.