Several South Korean companies expressed interest in reviving the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, according to the Department of Trade and Industry.
Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said there could be a possible cooperation between the Philippines’ BNPP and South Korea’s nuclear power plant operators.
“There are proposals to revive it, but I don’t think the government has made any pronouncement of any plan to revive it. There are talks about it,” he said.
Pascual said there were some “push factors” between the BNPP and some nuclear power plants in South Korea. “From what I’ve heard, BNPP can still be revived, and there are also plans to replicate this,” he said.
South Korea derives about a third of its electricity from 25 small modular reactors or nuclear power reactors, making it one of the world’s most prominent nuclear energy countries. It exports some of the power and is building the UAE’s first nuclear power plant under a $20-billion contract.
The Philippine government is also eyeing cooperation agreements with Oregon-based NuScale Power Corp. and Canadian fission energy provider Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp.
NuScale is one of the US companies the Philippines engaged with during the visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the US this month.
Pascual said the Philippines is eyeing a two-pronged approach in its partnership with NuScale that involves the installation of SMRs in certain areas and an opportunity for NuScale to set-up manufacturing operations in the Philippines.
Ultra Safe, on the other hand, is an expert in micro modular reactors, or nuclear plants smaller than SMRs. The Presidential Communications Office said USNC was looking at the Philippines as the first site of its nuclear energy facility in Southeast Asia.