The government, via the collaborative efforts between the Department of Energy (DOE) and Congress, will be exploring public-private partnership (PPP) or build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangement for the deployment of nuclear power technologies in the country, be it for the installation of small modular reactors (SMRs) or on the targeted repowering of the idled 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) venture.

According to Energy Undersecretary Sharon S. Garin, the tenor of policy-making currently being weighed in the legislative branch will be to push for PPP or BOT deal to be integrated in the regulatory framework for revival of nuclear energy in the Philippines.

“Congress has to decide if this will be an exception to EPIRA or do we assign an agency or GOCC (government-owned and controlled corporation) to develop nuclear power in the country or we make it like the conventional power that we have that we leave it to the private sector or we can do PPP or BOT,” the energy official stressed.

Garin primarily stated that the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) already prohibits government from engaging into power generation, hence, there is that proposal to place nuclear power investments under a State-underpinned and newly created entity or GOCC.

At this stage, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is taking the frontline as the “major seller” on the country’s plan to re-embrace nuclear as a long-term option in the country’s energy mix.

In his series of meetings with world leaders, primarily with the United States, France and South Korea, Marcos sounded off the country’s desire to opt for nuclear power to fulfill not just the country’s energy security goals but also for that technology to serve as a succor to mid-century decarbonization strategy as aligned with the dictum of globally-anchored climate change diplomacy.

On any plan to bring back BNPP to commercial operations state, Garin emphasized that a third party study will likely be needed to re-assess “obsolescing bargain” on the nuclear facility’s technology use and to determine if it would still be viable for electricity generation.

“For Bataan nuclear power plant, we need to make sure that if we want it opened, we have to make sure it’s safe. There has been some studies already, assessments but these are done by different companies, also possible suppliers,” Garin noted.

The energy official thus specified that “what possibly we can do is do a third party assessment and also for the departments that we have or the bureaus that we have like PNRI (Philippine Nuclear Research Institute) or the DOE can do the study also.”

She qualified “We are not saying that Bataan is the only way to go…. but we need to be very careful, we need to make sure the people are – they feel safe, hence, we need the regulatory and legislative legal frameworks.”

Garin further indicated that “social acceptance” in the host community will be another major development chokepoint that the government and interested private investors will need to overcome, hence, that will likewise be an essential component in crafting the policy and regulatory frameworks of the re-emerging nuclear power development terrain in the Philippines.

“One concern is the city as well as the LGU (local government unit), the province are willing to be the site of a nuclear power plant,” she asserted.

Financing the relatively high upfront cost of nuclear power installation will also be another investment impediment that the Philippine government will need to win over – if it is really serious on its forward plunge into nuclear power facilities’ rollout.

Published November 22, 2022, 4:47 PM
by Myrna M. Velasco