A South Korean company remains keen on repowering the mothballed 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, an official of state-run Philippine Nuclear Research Institute said Thursday.
“The one that is really interested is Korea, because Korea has an exact model. And they say they can revive it in five years because the facility is already existing,” PNRI director Carlo Arcilla said at the sidelines of the Powertrends 2023 Forum.
Arcilla said Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corp., could repower the BNPP in five years.
He said the five-year timeline would cover regulatory preparations, including compliance with the 19 infrastructure requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“What’s important for PBBM [President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.] is we can do nuclear before the end of his term and the fastest is BNPP,” he said.
Arcilla said the cost to repower BNPP, estimated previously at $1 billion to $2 billion, could be recovered in two to three years from the electricity savings generated.
He said the government could also explore other options for BNPP such as leasing out the facilities or privatizing them. Arcilla said the government would also need to address who would regulate nuclear power in the country.
The Department of Energy wants an independent nuclear power regulator under the Office of the President.
Arcilla’s statement came in the wake of a possible nuclear cooperation with China, which the Department of Energy is studying.
DOE director for energy policy and planning bureau Michael Sinocruz said the nuclear energy partnership with China would be under “government-to-government.”
“We have not discussed what will be the coverage of the energy cooperation,” he said.
Sinocruz said studies were ongoing for the inclusion of nuclear in the power generation mix under the updated Philippine Energy Plan, which may be extended until 2050.
The latest PEP covers the period 2020 to 2030.
“We’re going to include now nuclear…What will be the impact of nuclear in our energy mix in terms of reducing our CO2 emission, in terms of cost, among others,” Sinocruz said.
Sinocruz said the DOE was conducting an assessment on conventional nuclear power plants, with 13 sites identified including Bataan.