President Rodrigo Duterte has signed an executive order (EO) allowing nuclear power to be used as an energy source alongside other alternative energy sources, claiming that this is necessary to meet the country’s growth goals.
In issuing EO 164, Duterte stated that such a move resulted from EO 116, which directed the conduct of relevant studies in preparation for the adoption of a National Position for a Nuclear Energy Program and established the Nuclear Energy Program Inter-Agency Committee (NEP-IAC) to oversee its preparation.
“The national government commits to the introduction of nuclear power energy into the state’s energy mix for power generation. The state will ensure the peaceful use of nuclear technology anchored on critical tenets of public safety, national security, energy self-sufficiency, and environmental sustainability,” according to the EO, which was issued on February 28 but only made public on March 3.
The national “government will assess, review and develop nuclear energy plans using integrated approaches that consider both the provision of energy supplies, and the role of energy efficiency in meeting increasing demand for energy,” the EO added.
Duterte signs EO utilizing nuclear power as energy source
According to the government, demand for a clean energy pathway in the Philippines is estimated to grow at a rate of 4.4 percent per year by 2040, necessitating over 68 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity.
“Considering this demand and the depletion of natural gas resources, nuclear power will play an important role to the required capacity to achieve energy security, especially to meet the needs of an emerging upper middle income country,” the EO states.
The EO claims that launching a nuclear energy program will reduce potential environmental trade-offs and emissions.
“Life cycle emissions from nuclear power chains are comparable with the best renewable energy chains and several orders of magnitude lower than fossil fuel chains,” it states.
“Nuclear power can contribute effectively to the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and has strong potential to decarbonize the power sector.”
When then-President Ferdinand Marcos approved the construction of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) in 1976, the Philippines became the last country in the world to do so.
However, the BNPP project, which might have cost up to $2.3 billion, was abandoned after three years due to safety concerns.
Visit our Facebook page for more news updates.