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No nuclear power as long as I am president: Duterte
President Rodrigo Duterte does not see the need for the Philippines to shift to nuclear energy.
In an interview with reporters Tuesday night in Davao City , Duterte said the country was "not in that danger" that would entail the government to seek for nuclear energy as a source of its power supply.
"But when the going gets tough, maybe someday," Duterte said.
But nuclear energy , Duterte added, "not may be during my presidency. Not now because we have to come up with safeguards."
Duterte said the safeguards must be "really, really tight” to ensure “there will be no disasters if there is nuclear leak or explosion somewhere in the nuclear reactors that we will build."
Duterte's stance contradicted an earlier position of the Department of Energy, which entertained the possibility of operating the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.
The president said the use of nuclear energy has to be studied carefully by Congress and the Filipino people.
"For after all, if there will be (a) leak, all of us will be affected and it's our country. Remember that," Duterte said. Celerina Monte/DMS
