Nuclear energy to help propel Phl industrialization

The Philippines has total power generation of 26.6 terawatt-hours (TWH) or 26,600 gigawatt-hours in 1993, 52.9 TWH in 2003, 75.3 TWH in 2013, and 119 TWH in 2023. The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) has a capacity of 620 megawatts (MW) and if it was allowed to operate in 1985 could have generated about 4.6 TWH a year of electricity.

- BIENVENIDO S. OPLAS JR.

Several countries have produced at least 15 TWH from nuclear power alone decades ago: UK in 1965, US in 1970, Canada in 1973, Russia in 1974, France and Germany in 1975, Sweden in 1976, Switzerland in 1981, Belgium and Finland in 1982, Spain in 1984.

Among Asians, Japan in 1974, Taiwan in 1983, South Korea in 1985, China and India in 2000, Pakistan in 2021, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2022.

The peak nuclear power generation of these countries were as follows: US 849 TWH in 2010, France 452 TWH in 2005, Japan 326 TWH in 1998, Russia 224 TWH in 2022, Germany 171 TWH in 2001, Canada 106 TWH in 2014, UK 100 TWH in 1998, Sweden 78 TWH in 2004, Spain 64 TWH in 2001, Belgium 48 TWH in 2007, Taiwan 42 TWH in 2014.

In 2023, these Asians reached their peak nuclear power generation: China 435 TWH, South Korea 180 TWH, India 48 TWH, UAE 32 TWH, Pakistan 22 TWH. Data source for the above numbers is London-based Energy Institute's Statistical Review of World Energy, 2024 database.

France remains the most nuclear-intensive country in the world. The share of nuclear over total power generation in these countries in early 1990s were as follows: France up to 80 percent, Belgium 60 percent, Spain 37 percent, Germany and Taiwan 30 percent, Japan 28 percent. In the early 2000s, Sweden has up to 50 percent, South Korea 38 percent.

So nuclear power has been tapped by many countries around the world decades ago especially the Europeans and North Americans, and this greatly propelled them to industrialize early. The Asians are catching up now.