DOST exec lauds Meralco’s push for nuclear power

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) nuclear science research chief hailed the push of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s largest power distributor, to shift its focus on studying the potential deployment of conventional large-scale nuclear power facility to address the growing power needs.

Scientist Carlo Arcilla, DOST-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute director, cited a recent statement of Meralco executive Ronnie Aperocho on working with the French government for a study on the feasibility of building conventional large-scale nuclear power facilities in the country.

“From a purely regulatory standpoint, we see it as a very welcome development,” Arcilla told The STAR in an interview.

Arcilla said it would be better if the push to use nuclear energy will be led by the private sector, and not the government, to allow the national government to focus its attention on regulation.

Arcilla also expressed his approval on Meralco putting a focus on studying conventional large-scale nuclear energy technologies, instead of the recent efforts by Filipino energy companies to look at small modular reactor (SMR) technologies that are still mainly in the research and development stage in the US and France.

Meralco earlier bared a plan to roll out SMR that have a capacity of up to 300 megawatts. One MW of nuclear capacity can power up to 1,000 homes.