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Nuke Plant Wakes up Town

by Ramon Isberto
THIS sleepy backwater town in Bataan province, a three-hour car ride from Manila, has been thrust anew into the centre of a bitter national debate over the Philippines' controversial nuclear power plant.
After mothballing the plant in 1986 due to fears over its safety. President Corazon Aquino recently agreed to an out-of-court settlement that allows Westinghouse Electric Crop., builder of the 620 megawatt facility, to repair, upgrade and then run it for 30 years.
The decision has angered many supporters of Aquino who had pledged to close down the 2.3-billIon-dollar plant when she run for president in 1986. Among other reasons. Aquino had said it was the most corruption-ridden project of the Marcos regime.
Morong's 20,000 residents are divided over the presence of the skeletal concrete structures of the Incomplete plant outside their town. Town Mayor Armando Qulmlat Is among those for opening the plant, which critics have dubbed the "Monster of Morong" or the "Lemon of
for it." affirmed Qulmlat. who is running for reelection in this may's general polls. "1 think it will help our town which is one of the poor est In the country."
His opponent la against firing up the plant which sits in a fenced 300-hectare compound in the southern part of town. The mayor said he does not expect resistance to be as fierce as before, when townsfolk demonstrated against the plant, because the army has cleared the province of the communist New People's Army.
Also, people are hard up. says Qulmlat Rice farming and fishing are the main occupa tions here. Harvests fell after the eruption of Mt. Plnatubo last year clogged irrigation
dikes with ashfall.
The townspeople's Insecurities have also been stoked b/ the Impending withdrawal of the US Navy from nearby Subic Naval Base where some residents work.
Percival Noriega, now Jobless but who was briefly employed as a construction worker at the plant when It was being built, eagerly awaits the opening of the facility. "Of course we want the plant to operate," he said. That would give Jobs to many here."
Only about 50 Morong residents are currently employed at the plant, most of them as Janitors.
Farmer Leonardo San Juan prefers the plant to remain shut. They shouldn't run the plant." he said. If there's a (radioactive) leak, this town would be In danger. It may be true that II will give people Jobs. But what good wtll that do if there Is an accident?"
If the plant opens. Mayor Qulmlat hopes to finally collect the roughly US$40,000 a month In realty taxes and various municipal fees he is charging the National Power Corporation (NPC), the state-
owned firm that owns the plant.
As his eyes focus on an invisible spot on the celling, Qulmlat reckons the NPC owes Morong up to US$700,000 — a windfall for a town with an annual Income of only about US* 115.000.
But. he says, "we want assurances the plant Is safe." Since the project started tn 1976, the Philippine nuclear power plant has faced oppoa! tton from critics who claim Westinghouse won the contract by bribing then President Marcos and that the plant design and construction was defective The Aquino govern ment sued Westinghouse for damages before a US court In 1988.
The roughly 300 NPC engineers and employees who have been maintaining the plant to keep It from deteriorating are pleased by the proposed settlement, which still has to be cleared by Congress. They claim the plant is safe.
Briefing newsmen touring the plant recently. Efren Bantog, manager of the plant preservation project, said: "All the lessons of the accident at the Three Mlle Island plant in the United States have been incorporated In this plant. "Plant operations manager Fidel Correa also said no major design changes are needed and that whatever defects there are "repairable."
"We can fast track this and put the plant back in operation tn two years." Bantog added.
By their count, repair and new equipment to replace obsolete ones would cost only about US$200 millton, half the amount being contemplated In the proposed out-of-court settlement being finalised by Westlngltouse and Manila.
For the NPC employees, the prospect of Westinghouse taking over operation of the plant stirs mixed feelings
The stakes are much higher for town residents opposed to the plant. "We are still con cerned about the safety of the plant." says carpenter Maximo Diaz 'Unlike the NPC, we live here. We Just cannot leave this place If something goes wrong" — IPS