[B-SIDE Podcast] The promise of power: Nuclear energy in the Philippines

Nuclear energy has a bad reputation in the Philippines. That the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant is unfit and unsafe is what Carlo A. Arcilla, director of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), calls “the greatest piece of fake news in the history of the Philippines.”

In this B-Side episode, Dr. Arcilla tells BusinessWorld reporter Brontë H. Lacsamana that nuclear technology is a “mature and old technology” contrary to Hollywood’s dire depictions. “A jet plane is more complicated than a nuclear power plant,” he said.

Aside from elaborating on its advantages, Dr. Arcilla explains the state of nuclear power in the Philippines — from its rocky history in the 1970s to its potential role in helping safeguard the country’s energy security in light of the depletion of the Malampaya gas field and the threat to coal exports because of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Recorded at PNRI in August 2022. Produced by Joseph Emmanuel L. Garcia, Earl R. Lagundino, and Sam L. Marcelo.