Why Does The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant?

Ferdinand Marcos was the most controversial president elected by people because of his declaration of Martial Law that changed the lives of many people. Some people experienced hardships and trials during those times while some experienced bountiful blessings from the declaration of Martial Law. During martial law, Marcos built many infrastructures that were useful today while some remain unused, stagnant, stale or put as a decoration i.e. the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Why does the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant serve as one of the manifestations of our country’s gruesome past and why is it still pulling our nation down? After the reign of Diosdado Macapagal, the country was left without any budget for the next administration to spend. That
It would supposedly contribute roughly 620 MW (Paredes, 2014) to the electric power needs of Luzon. This nuclear power plant was won and made by Westinghouse, an electric company in the United States along with the approval of the late President Marcos under the martial law and is headed by his crony, Herminio Disini (Paredes, 2014). As cronies of Marcos spearheaded projects during his regime, there is no doubt that there would be malicious intentions regarding the construction of the said projects like the construction of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (Josephson, n.d). The construction involved corruption wherein the original price that was set by Westinghouse is 1.1 billion dollars, then later on increased to 2.3 billion dollars (Onishi, 2012) which was the price for having two nuclear reactors. Also, the price set by Westinghouse was not approved by the National Power Grid Corporation general manager of that time because the baseline bid is only 500,000 dollars (Paredes, 2014). The cost of construction of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant would greatly impact the impoverished economy of the Philippines during that time because it would be paid using the loan from the US-Export – Import bank to Marcos which would lead to future generations to pay for the debt made by Marcos because the power
What are the reasons? The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant did not operate due to movements against nuclear energy and partly, due to Marcos’ administration. There was also a movement called Network Opposed to the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (NO to BNPP) in order to encourage and inform the public about the anomalies and controversies that had happened before, during and after the construction of the said nuclear power plant (Fabros, 1998). There was also information that the nuclear power plant should not be operated due to findings that show 4000 defects of the nuclear power plant as well as safety concerns regarding it (Norlen & Dela Cruz, n.d). According to Mark Cojuangco, former representative of the 5th district of Pangasinan and the proponent of House Bill 04631 which mandates for the operation of the nuclear power plant, that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was made considering many factors including the safety of the reactor if natural disasters would happen near the power plant or within the vicinity (Micua, 2011). He stated facts that differs the power plant made in Bataan from the power plant that exploded in Chernobyl and that the nuclear power plant is safe to operate and supply electricity. Also, the nuclear power plant had performed several tests conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and passed these tests before receiving the approval from IAEA that it is ready to operate (“Bataan Nuclear Power Plant”, 2014). This means