BNPP rehab to cost $1B
It would cost around $1 bilion to rehabilitate the mothballed Bataan nuclear power plant, a feasibility study conducted by the Korean Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) showed.
The finding was disclosed yesterday by National Power Corp. president Froilan Tanpinco, who added that NPC might be able to come up with a recommendation by March.
"We are currently evaluating it prior to submission to the NPC board," he said
The Kepco finding is right on the $1 billion price tag that Rep. Mark Cojuanco set as the ceiling under his bill proposing that the Bataan plant be harnessed.
The cost of the study was fully shouldered by Kepco under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in December 2008 with the NPC.
Tampinco said the MOU also allows other parties to conduct studies and offer to rehabilitate the plan.
"It is expressly understood that the signing of the MOU does not give Kepco any preferential right to future projects or plans that NPC may undertake on the BNPP," the memorandum provides.
The BNPP was put up by President Ferdinand Marcos in response to the energy crisis in the 1970s.
Construction began in 1976 and the plant was completed in 1984 at a cost of $2.3 billion.
The Aquino administration junked the plant over safety concerns and alleged graft that attended the project.
The Aquino administration subsequently lost a suit alleging overpricing and graft against Westinghouse, supplier of the nuclear plant, and Burns and Roe, contractor, in New Jersey.
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