Meralco taps US firm to study nuclear energy

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) plans to sign a collaboration agreement with US-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) during President Marcos’ upcoming visit for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting in San Francisco.

“Actually, the cooperation agreement between Meralco and USNC is about to be signed and it will be formalized during the State Visit of the President to the US next week,” Meralco Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ronnie Aperocho said.

“We will have this opportunity to see the working system in one of the campuses of the University of Illinois in the US,” he said.

According to Aperocho, the plan is for the signing to be witnessed by Marcos himself.

Meralco, which is in favor of seriously considering nuclear power for the country, has already signed a pre-feasibility agreement with USNC.

The pre-feasibility is expected to lead to a full-blown feasibility study that would be shared with government and industry participants.

USNC is a Seattle-headquartered company involved in micro modular reactors.

“I’m quite bullish about their technology. One of the areas we talked with them about is Meralco procuring a proof of concept plan that they can install or build here in the Philippines – of course in an area that is safe, so I think that’s part of the discussion with the US visit,” Meralco chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan said the US visit would also help broaden Meralco’s knowledge about nuclear technology.

“Since we do not have any experience in terms of building a modular and certainly in terms of manning and operating a nuclear plant, so we need to do that. Because also on the other side, we don’t have an Atomic Regulatory Agency that will eventually oversee and supervise to develop nuclear power in this country,” he said.

The government has included nuclear in the country’s power mix under the clean energy scenario of the draft Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) 2023 to 2050.

Under the draft PEP 2023 to 2050, which will serve as the blueprint that will chart the Philippines’ energy landscape in the next three decades, a clean energy scenario considers the entry of nuclear energy, in which 1,200 megawatts (MW) of capacity is eyed by 2032, 2,400 MW by 2035, and 4,800 MW by 2050.

To advance the country’s push for the integration of nuclear power in its energy portfolio, Meralco earlier launched the Filipino Scholars and Interns on Nuclear Engineering   program in a proactive bid to develop skilled professionals.

Meralco plans to invest in local talents and support aspiring Filipino nuclear engineers to help accelerate the development of the country’s technical and regulatory talent pipeline through education and training in the highly specialized field of nuclear engineering.