President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is keen on tapping nuclear energy to beef up the country's power supply and avert a possible power crisis.

President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. answers questions from the media on board a flight back to Manila after attending the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Indonesia on May 11, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Yummie Dingding / PPA POOL)

Marcos revealed that even before assuming the presidency, he had been looking to nuclear energy as an option to address the power shortage in the country.

"Even before I took office, pinag-uusapan na namin tingnan ‘yan. It turns out there are many nuclear technologies, iba-iba. Ang dami naming natutunan in our last visit to Washington and then --- even yung nasa EU (European Union) kami, marami palang iba-iba (we were already talking about that. It turns out there are many nuclear technologies, of different kinds. We learned a lot in our last visit to Washington and then even in EU, we learned there were actually a lot of technologies)," Marcos said in a media interview onboard his flight back from Indonesia on Thursday, May 11.

The President said when it comes to power, the Philippines is "open to everything" as the country needs additional power supply at present.

“So, what else can we do? Find new sources. That’s what we’re trying to do. The situation with renewables is also improving but we may have found some other technologies na hindi mag-antay ng lead time ng (that won't have lead time of up to) six, seven years,” the President added.

Marcos' statement on nuclear energy came days after the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) urged the public to support the administration's plan to adopt nuclear technology for power generation to cut down the increasing energy costs in the country.

Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) Director Carlos Arcilla stressed the need to lower the cost of electricity to attract more investors, boost economic activity, and reduce the burden of consumers.

Island provinces or those not connected to the grid, will particularly benefit from using small modular nuclear reactors, the PNRI official said.

Marcos earlier eyed a “cutting-edge” micro nuclear fuel technology to solve the country’s power crisis particularly after he met with officials of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp., a US-based firm global leader and vertical integrator of nuclear technologies and services.

USNC officials expressed interest in bringing clean and reliable nuclear energy to the Philippines, describing the move as "probably a very important way for us to enter the market.”

They are also considering the Philippines for its first nuclear energy facility in Southeast Asia and vowed to help address the series of blackouts that hit several areas of the country.