Nuclear in the Philippines

(For a video on the conference in Manila, see: http://www.larouchephil.com/ ) Pacific Nuclear Drive Hits the Philippines

Dec. 10 (LPAC)--A private conference promoting nuclear power
development was held in Manila today, with international input
from the global nuclear industry, and from political advocates of
the urgency of a nuclear-driven future in the face of the global
financial breakdown. The head of the Philippines LaRouche
Society and the Philippines Atoms For Peace, Antonio "Butch"
Valdes, was one of the invited panelists, along with experts from
Korea, France, the United States, Japan, and other nations.
While the Philippines was the first Southeast Asian nation
to build a nuclear plant, the completed facility was never turned
on, as the nationalist leader Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown by
George Shultz and others in 1986, precisely in order to make a
"horrible example" of the Philippines to other developing nations
which might dare to "go nuclear." Now, with all of Asia rejecting
the lunacy of the West's anti-nuclear policies, the Philippines
is ready to restore its lost sovereignty, by restoring the Bataan
Nuclear Plant, and building others--if the political will can be
established within the country to join its neighbors in the
nuclear renaissance.
South Korea is playing a critical role in promoting and
(potentially) building nuclear power plants in the Philippines,
as it is across Asia and Africa. At the Manila forum, when a
representative of the Philippine National Power Company gave a
pessimistic projection, arguing that the mothballed 620 Megawatt
nuclear plant at Bataan is too large for the Philippines, since
there is not enough demand, the Korean spokesman from the World
Association of Nuclear Operators countered that when South Korea
began its nuclear program, it was one of the poorest nations on
Earth, but that before the first plant was even finished, foreign
and domestic investors were moving in, certain of both plentiful
and cheap energy, but also of a national commitment to progress.
Other developments around Asia demonstrate the optimism and
aggressive outlook across the region. Cambodian Prime Minister
Hun Sen this week opened the first nuclear department at a
Cambodian University, with a leading Korean nuclear scientist
leading the program. Also, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak
is in Malaysia today, where he told 300 business leaders of the
two nations that "South Korea's experience in the construction
and operation of nuclear power plants will be able to give
substantial help to Malaysia's future energy plan."
India, meanwhile, announced that the state-run Nuclear Power
Corporation has initiated talks with Indian companies and
financial institutions to form a consortium for exporting
pressurized heavy water reactors to emerging economies. The
consortium will facilitate export of these reactors to less
developed countries including Myanmar, Cambodia, Kazakstan,
Africa, Indonesia, and Malaysia. [mob]