A feasibility study undertaken by Asian nuclear powerhouse Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. Ltd. (KHNP) has estimated a five-year timeline to bring back the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) project into commercial operations and boost energy capacity within the term of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
In an interview with the media, Dr. Carlo A. Arcilla, director of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), noted that if the current government leadership will act on the country’s targeted fresh plunge into nuclear power investment, this administration can still save an important energy infrastructure that the father of Marcos Jr., the late Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., had conscientiously pushed for during his reign from the late 1970s to early 1980s.
“The Koreans said it (BNPP rehabilitation and repowering) can be done in five years, so that’s within the term of this Marcos administration,” he stressed.
Arcilla also emphasized that while the Philippine government works on updating and legislating policies and regulatory toolboxes for nuclear power applications in the country – be it for conventional nuclear power builds or the targeted deployments of small modular reactors (SMRs) -- the entity that can initially regulate the BNPP repowering will be PNRI.
He vouched that the government, through PNRI, still has extensive capacity to regulate BNPP’s return to operation, while some of the "baby boomer talents" who have been part of the facility’s development roughly 40 years ago are still around to help guide the country into its nuclear renaissance pathway – albeit, these must come with much-needed complement from international experts, primarily the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“Right now, we have the law to do that (regulation) – it’s the same law that built the BNPP,” Arcilla stated.
Representative Mark O. Cojuangco, chairman of the House Committee on Nuclear Energy, nevertheless, indicated that a new feasibility study by the Korean firm is warranted, primarily to re-assess the needed rehabilitation cost for the Bataan nuclear power facility.
“In 2009, the Koreans submitted an offer of $1.0 billion to commission the plant. In 2017, it was $1.17 billion – today, they cannot say the same, we need a new feasibility study to give us a firm figure,” the lawmaker said, while noting that the paramount action to be taken this time shall emanate from Energy Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla.
On a life cycle cost basis, Cojuangco qualified that the rate of nuclear-generated electricity will be substantially cheaper – even if the relatively high upfront capital cost would be factored in into the cost recovery facet of the entire project development chain.
He cited that based on initial studies done by Congress to underpin the proposed law (a consolidation of 12 bills) that will establish the country’s Atomic Safety Regulatory Authority, the cost of electricity from a nuclear power facility, including return on investment (ROI) and warranted level of profitability for investors, would be at P3.50 per kilowatt hour (kWh) which is substantially lower than the P5.00 to P10 per kWh cost of power delivered from coal, the dominant technology supplying the Philippines’ need for baseload electricity.
“With capital recovery and profits, say over 20 years – and nuclear actually lasts 60 to 80 years, the price of electricity will be a stable under P3.50 per kWh and once ROIs are met; then O&M (operation and maintenance) cost will only be P1.30 per kWh after that,” Cojuangco expounded.
In the lingering energy crisis triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war which precipitated the rise of coal prices to more than $400 per metric ton level, Cojuangco highlighted that even a doubling of uranium costs (as fuel to nuclear reactors in electricity generation), “will only increase fuel assembly prices by approximately 20-percent ... so, if we have nuclear power today, that will only account for P0.35 per kWh to a maximum of P0.55 per kWh increase.”
On the sphere of decarbonization strategy that the country is pursuing, nuclear is regarded as the ‘cleanest energy technology’ – even in comparison to solar and wind power facilities, especially so since the capacity gaps from intermittency of such renewable energy resources are being plugged by another fossil fuel technology, which is gas.
The elusive energy security goal of the country, the solon said, can also be attained if the government will take serious and well-calculated steps on nuclear power development, because this technology provides 24-hour power supply with very high capacity factor of more than 90-percent.
In the recently concluded Powertrends forum, Dr Yongsoo Kim, vice president and director of NPP Business Office in Overseas Business Division of KHNP, narrated that one major preparatory action that they addressed thoughtfully when Korea started its nuclear power development journey in the 1970s was "social acceptance", especially in the host communities of their project sites.
He pointed out that was a critical first step that KHNP had taken even before the company advanced into institutionalizing the legal frameworks and regulatory structures that supported their nuclear technology deployments.
“To achieve public acceptance in Korea, KHNP makes public updates on nuclear project operations status continuously...for communities surrounding the nuclear projects, we have continuously supported projects to help local residents. Through that, we secured public acceptance,” he shared.