By Catherine S. Valente
May 21, 2023
Synopsis
The Philippine government is studying the use of nuclear energy as a potential power source. The Department of Energy has formed an inter-agency task force to examine the issue and is open to various nuclear technologies. However, the country lacks a regulatory framework for nuclear energy. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has expressed interest in nuclear energy as a solution to the country's power shortage and has explored advanced micro nuclear fuel technology during his visit to the US. The government is prioritizing increasing the energy supply to meet growing needs and avoid a power crisis.
THE government is still studying nuclear energy as a possible source of power for the Philippines, the Department of Energy (DoE) said Saturday.
During the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, Energy Undersecretary Sandy Sales said there is still a lot of work to be done regarding the issue of nuclear power being tapped as an alternative source of energy in the country.
"Meron talagang inter-agency na task force to study this. In fact, nasa DoE nagre-reside ito (There is actually an inter-agency task force tasked to study this. In fact, it resides in the DoE) with all the relevant government agencies," Sales said, referring to the Nuclear Energy Program Inter-Agency Committee (NEP-IAC).
"Of course, mayroong ... ginagawa na maraming pag-aaral tungkol dito and with regards sa nuclear... open ang nuclear option para sa atin – meaning to say, there are many kinds of nuclear technologies (Of course, there are... a lot of studies that are being done about this and with regards to nuclear... the nuclear option is open to us -- meaning to say, there are many kinds of nuclear technologies available)," he added.
The DoE official said the country has yet to formulate a regulatory framework since the Philippines is currently not set up to utilize nuclear energy as an alternative power source.
"We are studying it and hopefully, babalik tayo doon sa situation na charting our course depende sa situation (we will return to that situation where we are charting our course depending on the situation), which potentially becomes part of the energy needs of the Philippines in the future," Sales said.
"Just saying that nuclear is one of the technologies that can react fast to the variability of renewable energy," he said, stressing that going nuclear entails some risks so it has to be carefully studied.
The Steering Committee of the NEP-IAC is set to hold a meeting next week.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the government would work on tapping nuclear energy among other sources of power to meet the growing needs of Filipinos and avert a possible power crisis in the country.
The President had stressed the immediate need to ramp up the energy supply of the country.
Even before he took office, Marcos said he had been looking at nuclear energy as an option to address the power shortage of the country.
In his recent working visit to the United States (US), Marcos said he is looking at a "cutting-edge" micro nuclear fuel technology as part of the administration's efforts to solve the problems in the country's power sector.
While in Washington, the President met with officials of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp., a US-based firm global leader and vertical integrator of nuclear technologies and services.
"It's certainly an interesting offer for us. It's definitely a cutting edge technology. Put together something. It's something new. I want to study it," the President has said.
Source: www.manilatimes.net
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