DOE to release nuclear power roadmap in February
By Alena Mae S. Flores – February 23, 2024, 9:20 pm
from manilastandard.net
The Department of Energy (DOE) will release the nuclear power roadmap this month to pave the way for the country’s first nuclear facility by 2033, an official said Friday.
“Our roadmap means that if we have an objective in 2033, we have to do so many things to prepare our capacities and our supply chain so that we can build a nuclear power plant by then,” DOE Undersecretary Sharon Garin said at the sidelines of the agency’s business to business matching event.
She said the roadmap spells out the responsibilities of each agency towards the realization of the country’s nuclear power industry. “How many scientists we need, what do the schools need, what our campaigns will be, and everything else,” Garin said.
Garin said the DOE identified 12 possible sites to install a nuclear power facility, but still needed to conduct site evaluation.
She said among the considerations are safety and structural integrity during earthquakes, which means the facilities should be away from fault lines.
“We have done desktop review for siting through our multi-agency committees,” Garin said.
She said the roadmap excludes the mothballed 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. “But we need funding for the feasibility of Bataan. And we’re working on that also,” Garin said.
She said the new feasibility study would update the previous studies conducted on BNPP.
“The previous one is not enough. So we want a new feasibility study. And Korea is willing to do that. We are just waiting for some approvals or disapprovals. But it will also determine our path…If we don’t finish the feasibility study this year, at least we can already decide. Do we go with Bataan or no? So at least, we can do some decision-making based on the feasibility study,” Garin said.
Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the DOE is pursuing nuclear as the agency is “open to all technologies.”
“Right now, we are not looking at renewable energy as providing for example baseload power. We need other sources of power in order to balance the viability of the renewable energy, but at some point, it is possible that new technologies, including energy systems,” he said.
He said the DOE wanted to roll out its programs once the relevant laws are passed.
“There are some indications that okay, if the regulatory and legal framework is already in place, then the commercial roll out of certain nuclear technologies are going to be there, then we can start planning for 2032 at the earliest,” the energy chief said.
He said DOE was looking at a modest figure of 1,200 MW of nuclear generation capacity by 2032.
