The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has expressed its support to the government’s 2032 nuclear power target by installing 1,200 megawatts capacity using small modular reactor technologies.
Meralco executive vice president and chief operating officer Ronnie Aperocho said in an interview early this week that the company aims to usher this target of the Department of Energy (DOE).
“We'll support the target, definitely, and hopefully we can help the Department of Energy to achieve that target,” Aperocho told reporters.
In November 2023, Meralco and United States-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) signed a cooperative agreement to conduct a feasibility study for the potential deployment of micro-modular reactors (MMRs) in the country to provide affordable, reliable, and clean energy, especially to the underserved and off-grid areas.
This, as the Philippines and the US signed a civil nuclear cooperation deal, or the 123 Agreement, that allows the transfer of US-origin nuclear technologies to the Philippines.
“Our partner USNC, they have already submitted the results of our feasibility study. We are reviewing it now, and they will be sending their delegations here few weeks from now to present to the big boss the results,” Aperocho added.
This coming March 11 to 12, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo will be leading a Presidential Trade and Investment Mission to Manila, with a delegation that includes US companies.
The US Embassy here said their government is still finalizing the members of the delegation. Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez confirmed to PNA that USNC is part of the business delegation of Raimondo here.
Aperocho also mentioned that the feasibility study includes the sites being considered for the MMR deployment.
For his part, Meralco chairman and chief executive officer Manuel Pangilinan said this kind of nuclear technology, which is smaller than the conventional ones, is “good for island provinces” like Cebu and Bohol.
“You don’t have to build a big plant, modular naman ito (this is modular),” Pangilinan said. By Kris Crismundo (with reports from Joyce Rocamora/PNA)
Courtesy of the Philippine News Agency
