Can the Philippines finally go nuclear?

A 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant may be online by 2025.

The Philippine government has said in no uncertain term it is prepared to rekindle its dormant nuclear power program, but only with the necessary safeguards in place.

“The nuclear option is still there,” said Jose Rene Almendras, Secretary of the Department of Energy.

“It’s just for future generations. That’s why I do not want to scrap it from the energy plan. I want to keep it as an option in the future when the safety standards improve and when technology will be able to catch up and develop much safer facilities,” explained Almendras.

The Department of Energy intends to implement a new national nuclear power program that should see a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant online by 2025. Observers, however, feel the target date is too optimistic since the Philippines neither has a plan nor has it identified the technology appropriate to its needs.

The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines, a major proponent of the nuclear power option, said in a research report that building a nuclear power plant will lead to US$75 billion in new foreign investment; create 10 million jobs and earn P1 trillion in revenue for the Philippine economy within this decade.

The joint chambers recommended including nuclear power in the national power development plan and called on the Philippine Congress to pass a resolution supporting the development of nuclear energy.

The government last year began considering converting the dormant 630-megawatt Bataan nuclear power plant into either a coal-fired or natural gas-fed facility. The plant was built in 1984 but never commissioned.

The Joint Foreign Chambers consist of the American Chamber of Commerce; the Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce; the Canadian Chamber of Commerce; the European Chamber of Commerce; the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Korean Chamber of Commerce.