DOE pushes study on nuclear energy

MANILA, Philippines - Jesus Tamang, director of the DOE’s Energy Policy and Planning Bureau, told local and foreign scientists and researchers at the 3rd Philippine Nuclear Congress that the DOE was completing an energy plan for the country that would be finished by the end of the year.

The DOE executive told The STAR the plan would include an endorsement on the conduct of a pre-feasibility study on the inclusion of nuclear energy on the country’s energy mix.

“The energy plan’s not yet finished but we’ll be coming out with an update before yearend,” Tamang said.

“Still, it will not yet include a clear decision on (the inclusion) of nuclear ‘coz we still have to do several things shown in the last slide of my presentation,” Tamang said.

However, he said they would be endorsing to the President that nuclear energy “was worth looking into.”

Tamang said the challenges in forming a nuclear energy policy was the need for a pre-feasibility study on nuclear science and technology and its possible contribution as an energy source for the country.

There was also a need to establish a Nuclear Energy Program Implementing Organization (NEPIO), as well as a study on what to do with the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).