Nuclear Energy Facts and Myths: For public perception and education
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00:00 Nuclear energy is a big step towards a cleaner and more sustainable energy.
00:08 However, there are challenges that need to be addressed or addressed.
00:13 That's why this morning, to give us an insight and to open our minds about this,
00:19 we will talk to the founder and managing director of Radiant Energy Group, Mr. Mark Nelson.
00:26 Sir Mark Nelson, good morning to you. Welcome to Rise and Shine Philippines. This is Diane and Audrey.
00:31 Morning, sir.
00:32 Diane, Audrey, good to meet you both.
00:34 Yes, sir. How do you plan to address public apprehensions and to educate the public about nuclear energy
00:42 given its historical association with disaster like the Chernobyl and Fukushima?
00:47 Well, I would say one of the most important ways I can address that is just to tell you that
00:54 all over the world, nations are having the same conversation right now
00:59 and for the most part, led by young people concerned about the climate crisis.
01:04 Entire nations are rethinking nuclear energy and finding that they are for it and they want it for peaceful development.
01:12 In the case of Chernobyl, it's important to know that the Chernobyl nuclear plant kept operating as a commercial power plant
01:19 year after year after year all the way to year 2000 and the only reason Chernobyl actually shut down
01:24 and stopped making electricity for the country of Ukraine is that Ukraine received a cash payment
01:30 from other European countries to turn on another nuclear plant on the other side of the country.
01:35 Sir Mark, can you tell us more about the recent stand up for nuclear event organized by Alpas Pinas
01:42 and its key objectives in dispelling these misconceptions about nuclear energy?
01:47 Well, the basic thing, the basic truth is that the nuclear industry has been its own worst enemy in talking to the public.
01:56 The nuclear industry thought if it just stayed behind the walls of its own nuclear plants
02:01 and ran nuclear plants really safely and really cheaply that somehow the public would learn to love it.
02:07 It's not true. The nuclear industry should have gone and talked to the public.
02:11 But of course in the Philippines, you never turned on your plant so there was no nuclear industry.
02:15 So it was almost just as bad. Alpas Pinas was formed by enthusiasts and volunteers to tell people about nuclear energy
02:25 to make up for this gap of the nuclear industry not having anything to say for itself.
02:30 So they invited me to come over to the Philippines. At this point I have friends and contacts here
02:36 that made it worth my time to come and talk to the people of the Philippines directly.
02:41 The reason why I like doing that at an event like Stand Up for Nuclear is that you never really know
02:47 what people's biggest concerns and even dreams are for their country until you go in person and talk to them.
02:54 And it was a priceless opportunity to go to the Stand Up for Nuclear event to do so.
02:58 Stand Up for Nuclear is not even an organization, it is an idea.
03:03 It is a program of non-profits around the world putting on events that meet their own national or local needs
03:10 Just this year, I was at Stand Up for Nuclear in Milan, Italy where young engineering students and their professors
03:18 in 21 cities in Italy, including Milan, put on demonstrations.
03:24 I have to say though, the Alpas Pinas event in Manila was the biggest and best produced Stand Up for Nuclear event in the entire world this year.
03:33 Sir Nelson, what motivated you to become an advocate for nuclear energy and how do you believe it can address
03:41 the current energy needs of our country, the Philippines?
03:45 Well, I'm from Oklahoma in the United States and growing up my family was involved in small scale oil and gas
03:54 and although that was okay, it provided a good living and I'm grateful to my parents.
03:59 I felt that I wanted to do something more than just fossil fuel development
04:04 because I'm worried a little bit about the environmental problems we're leaving for ourselves and our children
04:09 because of carbon emissions.
04:11 At the same time, because I understood the oil and gas world, I knew that energy is not being produced just for waste.
04:19 It's being produced because it's the way that countries like Oklahoma got wealthy.
04:24 I had a young Filipino friend in grade school growing up and the reason why he and his family were in America
04:30 was indeed for the economic opportunities that come from a high energy country.
04:35 So I wanted to study something and learn something that combined both high energy and environmental protection
04:42 and finally in 2012, I learned about nuclear energy and had a scholarship to study nuclear energy at Cambridge University
04:50 and I took my chance. I went for it and as soon as I started studying it, all the pieces to me of the environment,
04:57 energy and economy story finally came together.
05:00 Here, we have an energy source that if in the Philippines, you just turn on a nuclear plant that you already built
05:07 and you add others, it means that you will have an enormous amount of energy for your country
05:14 supplied by your engineers, your technicians and not by foreign fuel companies.
05:19 The foreign fuel companies, you pay just a little bit but Filipinos and Filipinas, you will get a giant amount of energy for very cheap.
05:27 Sir Mark, we want to know your thoughts on the Philippine National Nuclear Energy Act
05:33 and how it emphasizes safety and environmental protection in nuclear energy usage.
05:39 The Energy Act is essential in my opinion.
05:43 Every country with a good nuclear program has a regulator that is there to check the safety and performance of your nuclear plant,
05:51 its hiring practices, its maintenance, that sort of thing.
05:55 But at the same time, it's urgent that you have a group or a part of your government that promotes the peaceful use of nuclear energy
06:04 and that would be for example, your Department of Energy.
06:07 The Department of Energy should promote, they should not regulate, the regulator should regulate, not promote
06:13 and together those two organizations work to make sure that you do have nuclear energy but it's safe and reliable like in other countries.
06:22 And in my opinion, the way your regulation is written will become the new global standard.
06:29 You've hired some of the absolute best thinkers and policy writers in the nuclear world to write your rules.
06:38 I think it's a very enlightened policy that it includes ideas that are specific and custom just for the Philippines
06:46 to ensure that your country's needs are met.
06:48 Okay, so Nelson, in what ways can nuclear energy offer a cost-effective solution for the Philippines' energy problem?
06:58 Well, here's the big one.
07:00 When you are importing coal, you will pay the market price for the coal from overseas.
07:06 When you are importing liquefied natural gas or LNG, you will be paying the market price for LNG in the world.
07:14 Because coal and LNG for burning is most of the cost of making electricity from those sources,
07:21 it means you will be competing directly against electricity customers in the richest countries on planet Earth.
07:29 Whereas if you are making uranium electricity from nuclear, it means that the price of the uranium is very small compared to the value of the electricity.
07:40 So you are disconnected from having to compete directly against the richest countries.
07:44 All you will be doing is making wealth for your own country from the electricity from the nuclear plant.
07:49 I think that's an important thing to understand.
07:51 It doesn't mean don't do coal and gas.
07:54 It means that only nuclear will liberate you and allow the Philippines to have its own strength and own direction
08:00 without having to rely on the up and down and up and down of the energy markets globally.
08:06 Okay, so conversations about nuclear energy, of course, include safety and also proper management of nuclear waste.
08:14 Do you think the Philippines can handle the risk in terms of usage of nuclear power and also practice proper management of nuclear waste, Sir Mark?
08:23 Indeed, I do.
08:25 And anyone who tells you that the Philippines isn't smart enough or isn't capable to handle its own affairs in nuclear energy,
08:32 I don't know what to say about people who have that little faith in your country.
08:36 No one worries about flying Philippines Airlines.
08:39 Your airline pilots are outstanding.
08:41 The training is superb and world class and the best airline companies and aircraft companies in the world stand by to help you stay just as safe as you are today.
08:52 Nuclear energy is much the same way.
08:54 If the day you start a nuclear energy program, you will attract the best and brightest of your young people and your mid-career people,
09:02 not just in the Philippines, but to come home from overseas.
09:05 Stop sending home remittances. They will come back to the Philippines for the excitement and the prestige of working at a nuclear plant.
09:14 And your safety and security will come not just from the excellent world class design of your nuclear plant and of the ones you will build,
09:22 but also because you will have the best of the Philippines working and maintaining your nuclear plants.
09:27 Again, Sir Nelson, thank you so much for all the information you have shared to us this morning.
09:32 Maraming salamat po sa pagbibigayin ng kalaman tungkol sa nuclear facts and myths.
09:37 Nakawalitak po natin si Mr. Mark Nelson, founder and managing director of Radian Energy Group. Thank you, Sir.