An opposition lawmaker urged the government Sunday to seriously consider putting up nuclear power plants that could generate sufficient power supply to Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, saying it could be the ultimate solution to the recurring energy crisis in the country.

Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo “Ompong” Plaza floated the proposal as power shortage has started affecting different parts of the country, with Mindanao plucking the worst brunt.

“Contrary to old beliefs, nuclear technology is far safer now than it was since it was first developed half a century ago. Today, many countries are shifting to nuclear power generation because it is safer, cheaper and considered to be more environment-friendly than coal-fired power plants,” he said.

Plaza, a senatorial candidate under the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), said the power crisis now being experienced in the country due primarily to drought and the breakdown of some power plants may recur unless the country taps alternative sources of power. The El Niño phenomenon, which occurs between a two to ten years cycle, would continue to dry up reservoirs that provide hydroelectric power to local industries and homes, he said.

“If we go nuclear, we will not experience the same problems again. We will have an abundant energy source especially if we put up one nuclear power facility in each of the country’s major islands,” he said.

But the lawmaker said the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, the design of which is as obsolete as the 70’s fashion and trends, should no longer be revived, Plaza noted that new and existing nuclear technology offers no possibility of a meltdown, inexpensive power cost, no weapons-grade by-products, and burnt up existing high-level waste as well as old nuclear weapon stockpiles.

He said that experts have identified safer nuclear fuel source such as Thorium which promises, among others, a new generation of clean and safe nuclear power plants. Such energy source could satisfy the people’s insatiable thirst for energy, and address the warming of the world's climate, he added.

“Also, studies have shown that coal plants are even more deadly than nuclear plants. While threats of a reactor meltdown are real for conventional reactors, the fact remains that nuclear power - over the 55 years since it first generated electricity in 1951 - has caused only a fraction of the deaths coal causes every week,” he said.

Coal mining alone kills more than 10,000 people a year. Most of these deaths occur in mines in China and the developing world and it still kills in wealthy countries like the United States, Plaza said.

“Coal deaths don't just come from mining but from burning it. Air pollution from coal-fired power plants causes 23,600 US deaths per year. It's also responsible for 554,000 asthma attacks, 16,200 cases of chronic bronchitis, and 38,200 non-fatal heart attacks annually,” Plaza said.

He was citing a previous study conducted by the Earth Policy Institute in Washington DC - a non-profit research group founded by influential environmental analyst Lester R. Brown.

The opposition senatorial candidate pledged that he would push for a nuclear power program once he won a seat in the upper chamber.

“I will continue working for this until we become energy sufficient. I believe we should now set aside our indifference and embrace the benefits and beauty of nuclear power. It is the only solution to all our energy problems,” he said.