Meralco eyes nuclear power

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is pursuing its interest in the potential development of nuclear energy in the country, with plans of setting up a pilot plant in partnership with a US-based nuclear power company.

Meralco is looking at nuclear power as part of its adoption of next generation clean energy technologies.

Meralco chairman and chief executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan, in a recent briefing, said company representatives have met with nuclear power firms during the visit of President Marcos to the United States in May.

He said one of the companies eventually visited Meralco a couple of months ago.

“It was a very productive visit and one of the things we wanted to do with them is first to send a team to Seattle and to University of Illinois where they have a working plant in the campus and see how it operates, and suggested to them that if we could actually buy or we could buy and build a pilot plant here in the Philippines so at least we could have a taste of how it looks, how we can build it, and how we can help operate it,” Pangilinan said.

“So that’s in progress. We still have to schedule those trips to the States and coordinate with them to get that going,” he said.

Marcos met with two nuclear power firms, NuScale Power Corp. and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp., during his last US visit.

NuScale is engaged in developing small modular reactor technologies, while Ultra Safe is involved in micro modular reactors.

Pangilinan said Meralco has signed a non-disclosure agreement with Ultra Safe.

Nuclear energy is among the technologies being explored by the country, but it is still considered as a long-term option for the Philippines for power generation.

“This is a long term solution. We’re about at least five years away from commercial production of nuclear plants,” Pangilinan said.

Meralco earlier said it is seeking financing support from the US government for a feasibility study for the development of nuclear energy, particularly small modular reactors (SMRs), in the Philippines.

SMRs, which have a capacity between 50 megawatts (MW) and 300 MW, are faster to build compared to large nuclear plants and can be deployed to off-grid areas for a more reliable source of electricity.

Meralco has also previously expressed its readiness to support the development of nuclear energy in the country by providing scholarships to beef up local talents in the field.

Pangilinan had highlighted the importance of having a regulatory regime in place, as well as skilled engineers and people that would support nuclear energy development in the country.

He said the country must also be able to understand first the risks associated with nuclear plants.