Nuclear energy to help propel Philippines industrialization

The Philippines has total power generation of 26.6 terawatt-hours (TWH) or 26,600 gigawatt-hours in 1993, 52.9 TWH in 2003, 75.3 TWH in 2013, and 119 TWH in 2023. The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) has a capacity of 620 megawatts (MW) and if it was allowed to operate in 1985 could have generated about 4.6 TWH a year of electricity.

Several countries have produced at least 15 TWH from nuclear power alone decades ago: UK in 1965, US in 1970, Canada in 1973, Russia in 1974, France and Germany in 1975, Sweden in 1976, Switzerland in 1981, Belgium and Finland in 1982, Spain in 1984.

Among Asians, Japan in 1974, Taiwan in 1983, South Korea in 1985, China and India in 2000, Pakistan in 2021, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2022.

The peak nuclear power generation of these countries were as follows: US 849 TWH in 2010, France 452 TWH in 2005, Japan 326 TWH in 1998, Russia 224 TWH in 2022, Germany 171 TWH in 2001, Canada 106 TWH in 2014, UK 100 TWH in 1998, Sweden 78 TWH in 2004, Spain 64 TWH in 2001, Belgium 48 TWH in 2007, Taiwan 42 TWH in 2014.

In 2023, these Asians reached their peak nuclear power generation: China 435 TWH, South Korea 180 TWH, India 48 TWH, UAE 32 TWH, Pakistan 22 TWH. Data source for the above numbers is London-based Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy, 2024 database.

France remains the most nuclear-intensive country in the world. The share of nuclear over total power generation in these countries in early 1990s were as follows: France up to 80 percent, Belgium 60 percent, Spain 37 percent, Germany and Taiwan 30 percent, Japan 28 percent. In the early 2000s, Sweden has up to 50 percent, South Korea 38 percent.

So nuclear power has been tapped by many countries around the world decades ago especially the Europeans and North Americans, and this greatly propelled them to industrialize early. The Asians are catching up now.

The main opposition by many people against nuclear energy is nuclear accident. But the last nuclear accident with human fatalities was in 1986 in Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, then part of the USSR. The Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011 has zero casualty, no death or serious injuries but over 100,000 people were evacuated as precaution.

Philippines doing nuclear energy soon

Early March this year, there was a Philippine Nuclear Trade Mission to Canada organized by the Canadian Embassy in Manila. It was headed by DOE Undersecretary Sharon Garin and DOST Undersecretary Leah Buendia, along with ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta, PNRI deputy director Vallerie Samson, local energy companies and local media, including myself.

Among the recent development in the country’s push to tap nuclear power as reported in the Philippine Star are the following: “Meralco revving up nuclear energy push” (Aug. 26), “AboitizPower in talks with nuclear reactor makers” (Aug. 29), “Philippines, South Korea firm ink deal for Bataan nuclear power plant study” (Oct. 7), “Meralco, Samsung forge nuclear energy deal” (Oct. 15).

This month alone, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with South Korea’s Doosan Enerbility Co., Ltd. to collaborate on developing low-carbon energy projects in the Philippines.

The Meralco – Doosan partnership will include among others: the potential rehabilitation of the BNPP, the use of small modular reactors (SMRs), possible deployment of greenhouse gas reduction equipment like ammonia co-firing technology for ageing thermal power plants. Also possible development and supply of gas turbine for combined cycle power projects of Meralco’s subsidiaries, Doosan to serve as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for these projects.

Meralco chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said that given Meralco’s commitment to support the Philippine government’s goal of energy security, “partnering with reputable and dependable companies like Doosan aligns well with our pursuit to continuously explore innovative energy solutions that we can adopt as we work towards ensuring availability of sufficient, affordable and reliable power to meet our country’s long-term goals.”

Meralco also signed an MOU with another South Korean firm, Samsung C&T Corporation Engineering & Construction Group to advance the adoption of nuclear energy projects in the Philippines.

The Meralco – Samsung partnership will include among others: sharing of technical design and capabilities of nuclear technology, the prevailing regulatory framework, energy landscape, necessary grid infrastructure, the potential roll-out of a pilot demonstration projects, other opportunities for nuclear power development like construction of large nuclear power plants and SMRs.

On the Aboitiz Power (AP) talks with nuclear original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), AP’s chief corporate services officer Carlos Aboitiz is quoted saying that “It’s very new. In all likelihood, it’s definitely not going to happen in the 2020s. It’s less likely to happen in the early 2030s. But even then, we have to start investing now.”

As a researcher of energy economics, among the topics that I regularly write, I see that only Meralco and AP have made explicit interest to develop nuclear energy in the Philippines. But Meralco is more advanced in taking steps, like doing these MOUs with the Koreans, sending several Filipino engineering scholars to the US and China to study advance nuclear technology.

Nuclear energy has many safe and peaceful applications beyond power generation. Like radioisotopes used in agriculture, healthcare and medicine, nuclear for desalination, transportation, etc. As a developing and fast-growing economy, the Philippines will need nuclear power to augment our existing baseload plants from coal, natural gas, geothermal and big hydro. Industrialization will need more electricity, lots of it.