Rejoinder to Winnie Monsod’s “Nuclear fun facts for Kelvin“ of 26 March [Inquirer]. Kelvin Rodolfo submitted this two days later [28 March] to Inquirer‘s opinion editor, it was acknowledged received but remains unpublished. Sharing here, thanks to Floro Quibuyen.
My dear Winnie,
You defend our electorate: ‘Mr. Duterte was a latecomer, and they had no time to study him as closely as the other candidates who were more well-known. Mr. Duterte had the attractiveness of a newcomer and little was known about him, or there was no time to spread the word.’ So of course he was elected, yes?
Let’s paraphrase: “Nuclear power is a virtually unknown latecomer, made attractive by propaganda, and Filipinos have no time to study it as closely as other better-known energy options.” But activate BNPP now! “What are we waiting for?”
You say that Filipinos overwhelmingly favor nuclear power because it would be cheap. You are the economist; though but an humble geologist, I have documented this fallacy: “Without taxpayer subsidy, nuclear power is absolutely impossible” [rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-without-taxpayer-subsidy-nuclear-power-absolutely-impossible\]
Also: “So how much greenhouse gas does nuclear power really generate?” [rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-how-much-greenhouse-gas-does-nuclear-power-generate/]
If I send you their documentation and you send me contradictory documentation, can we discuss as seasoned academics? Then answer commentator Ga Go: “bakit di nyo sagutin ang tanong ng mga tambay sa kalye namin, magkano ang kuryente galing sa nuclear plant?” With its unsolvable waste-containment problem, I certainly can’t.
Watts Bar II was originally built sturdily; BNPP wasn’t, said Cory government, including your NEDA in 1986.
Echoing Arcilla, you imply that, living in nuclear-powered Illinois, I hypocritically oppose BNPP. I’m against nuclear power globally, but bemoaning Illinois’ very real nuclear problems is not what we’re doing here.
We’ve lost touch, Winnie. Since 2008 Kathy and I are permaculture farmers in non-nuclear Wisconsin. Our farmhouse is earth-sheltered, cool in the summer; passive-solar and sub-floor solar-heated in winter. Solar panels and a wind generator provide all of our electricity, including power for our plug-in Prius hybrid, and we sell a modest surplus to the grid. Mahar Lagmay’s students have visited; check them out.
About Australia: I’m with you in decrying its big carbon footprint. But the point was, and is: Australia has the most uranium, but doesn’t use nuclear power because… their economists are not as smart) as you?
I wish you hadn’t anointed Carlo Arcilla your geological expert, because I ashamedly must share responsibility for his schooling. I discuss his BNPP expertise in “Propaganda about faulting, earthquakes, and the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant” [rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-propaganda-faulting-earthquakes-bataan-nuclear-power-plant]
He started agitating to activate BNPP before he even knew where it was, accepting a possible fault passing through its site, since confirmed. Why? He had mislocated BNPP 8 kilometers up the coast! Then he denied its existence to Inquirer’s Tonette Orejas, based on studies he hadn’t conducted yet. That was in 2009.
I signed his dissertation in 1998. Long ago, I gave up badgering him to publish it with scientific peer review. His promises to publish his “no Fault” studies carry little weight, except with you… Hoy, Caloy, mura ang laway.
Without corroborating evidence, Arcilla contradicts Academician Mahar Lagmay and his fifteen geologist associates (Foray 7). The Geological Society of London, the world’s oldest, which preserves its prestige with rigorous review standards, published their work on BNPP’s hazards. Arcilla implies he hasn’t even read it!
You ask me, “You don’t think a rehabilitated BNPP will have to pass safety requirements?” But that hasn’t happened yet, and you are already demanding its activation. You and Arcilla argue similarly.
Arcilla claims “PNRI is also the nuclear regulator, and being its director, we will have to sign the license to operate the nuclear power plant, following the IAEA safety guidelines. I will NEVER sign a license for the plant if there is an active fault beneath it.”
Actually, in May 2021 Congress started to establish a Philippine Atomic Regulatory Commission to regulate the nuclear energy industry. Secretary of Science and Technology Fortunato de la Peña concurred: “there needs to be a separate agency” apart from PNRI: bworldonline.com/house-panel-approves-bill-setting-up-atomic-commission/
About the actual, serious problems with BNPP’s sisters Krsko in Slovenia, Kori 2 in South Korea and Angra 1 in Brazil, see my Foray 28, out last week: “Activating BNPP would give cancer to workers and adults living nearby”. [rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-activating-bnpp-give-cancer-workers-adults-living-nearby/ ]
Some leaders of the National Academy of Science and Technology may advocate nuclear. DOST houses and funds NAST, making their objectivity questionable. However, chemist Fabian Dayrit, Academy Vice President and President of the Integrated Chemists of the Philippines, vigorously opposes BNPP and nuclear power.
I find no BNPP facts “fun”. In April, Rappler will publish Foray 29: “Activate BNPP? Increase Childhood Cancers in Bataan and Beyond”. I’m sending an advance copy with documentation to you and other commentators; do with it what you will, within the limits of the copyright that Rappler shares.
May you and yours stay safe from Covid and BNPP!
Kelvin
As the world knows, Arcilla has a Ph D in geology, mentored by Dr. Kelvin Rodolfo. So, why has he not read Mahar et al’s peer-reviewed study? It’s a no-brainer: Arcilla’s commitment is no longer to the truth and the scientific method; his commitment is now to Big Business–that’s where the money is! But its worse in the case of Winnie Monsod–she has absolutely no training in geology, nor in nuclear power–NADA, ZILCH–yet, mystifyingly, she blindly believes every word Arcilla says–despite Rodolfo’s earnest attempts to educate her. I can explain easily Arcilla’s case (many otherwise bright PhD grads or Law grads, for that matter, end up serving the Establishment or Big Business–“profit over people”, “Mammon over God”–is the motto they live by). But good old Monsod remains a mystery to me. She just takes my breath away.