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Members of the Network Opposed to BNPP Revival fear that the planned re-commissioning of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant will spur corruption anew within the country's corridors of power. A report from the network disclosed that while the technical concerns on the plant's site and plant safety have not yet been directly addressed by the proponents, it is not the end or be-all of talks considering BNPP's revival. "One should not neglect other aspects of equal importance: the politics and economics of the project," the network said.

"Researchers at the National Institute of Geological Sciences (NIGS) in the University of the Philippines have discovered a thrust fault less than 200 meters southwest of the derelict Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). "It's at the tip of Napot Point," said NIGS professor Alfredo Mahar Francisco Lagmay. "At least from the papers I have been researching on, I have never seen a description of this fault." According to Lagmay, he and his team have been scouting for exposed faults such as this one for the past few months through maps and satellite images."

"-The rehabilitation of the mothballed 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) may cost roughly P45 billion, according to a report submitted Friday to the state-owned National Power Corp. According to a government official privy to the matter, the BNPP rehabilitation cost report was submitted by Korea Electric Power Co. (Kepco), as part of a feasibility study it had conducted on the nuclear facility."

Environmental group Greenpeace on Monday accused Congress of using "myths" and "abusing scientific data" to support their bid to revive the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Von Hernandez, Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director, and geologist Kelvin Rodolfo, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, disproved claims by Representatives Mark Cojuangco and Juan Miguel Arroyo that the 30-year-old facility would yield clean, safe and inexpensive energy. "Nuclear energy is not clean, not safe and not cheap," said Hernandez, adding that it is "probably the most dangerous and expensive power source there is."

AN ARTICLE CALLING FOR THE REHABILITATION OF THE MOTHBALLED 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) drew sharp reactions from environmental groups. The article, written by F.G. Delfin, a former energy undersecretary, appeared in this section on April 27.

While he was still at Phivolcs, Dr. Ronnie Torres, a foremost expert regarding pyroclastic flows who is now at the University of Hawaii, warned of volcanism and faulting at the site in a 1992 report, "The vulnerability of PNPP site to the hazards of Natib volcano" (Phivolcs Observer, Vol. 8 No. 3: 1-4). Quoting Dr. Torres: "Natib volcano does not erupt very often but could still erupt." As a rough rule of thumb, the longer a volcano is in repose, the more time it has to store eruptive energy, and thus, the stronger the eventual eruption.

Protesters dressed as skeletons hold placards calling for a halt to the government's plan to revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant during a rally at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

The Philippines may choose to dispose of nuclear waste at the Spratlys Islands should the government proceed with a plan to use nuclear energy. Using the islands as a disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel may even end the dispute over its ownership, said Pangasinan Representative Mark Cojuangco, who authored a House Bill that intends to rehabilitate the country's only nuclear plant in Bataan. Besides the Philippines, a host of other countries including China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam are claiming dominion over the islands. The disputed territory "can actually be a mechanism for regional peace because [other countries claiming the Spratlys] are looking for repositories of nuclear waste," Cojuangco said in a briefing.