Philippines takes 'major step' toward using nuclear power

By Enrico Dela Cruz
MANILA, July 29 (Reuters) - The Philippines has taken a big
step towards tapping nuclear power, its energy minister said on
Wednesday, after President Rodrigo Duterte created an
inter-agency panel to study the adoption of a national nuclear
energy policy.
As power demand soars in what has for years been among the
world's fastest-growing economies, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi
has been passionately advocating use of nuclear power, despite
public concern over safety in a country hit frequently by
natural disasters.
Nuclear power is seen as a potential answer to the
Philippines' twin problems of precarious supply and Southeast
Asia's highest electricity costs, but Duterte has yet to express
full support for Cusi's proposal.
In a July 24 executive order and made public on Wednesday,
however, Duterte created a committee to conduct the study,
indicating openness to reviving the country's nuclear energy
ambitions.
The Philippines spent $2.3 billion to build what was
Southeast Asia's only nuclear power facility, but never used it
https://reut.rs/39NyZcR.
The 621-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was completed in
1984 but mothballed following the devastating Chernobyl disaster
and the collapse of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, who
ordered its construction.
Cusi welcomed Duterte's move as "a major step towards the
realisation of a Philippine nuclear energy programme" that would
"help shield our consumers from traditional power price
volatilities".
The committee will assess the feasibility of adding nuclear
to the Philippines' power mix, taking into account economic,
security and environmental implications.
If it goes ahead, it could either build new facilities or
rehabilitate the Bataan plant. Previous attempts to pursue
nuclear energy have failed due to safety concerns and its
association with Marcos and his brutal martial law era.
Despite having no nuclear policy, however, the Philippines
has been in talks with Russian state atomic company Rosatom
about a feasibility study for deploying small nuclear plants in
far-flung areas.

(Editing by Martin Petty)