COPENHAGEN – The Philippine government, through the Department of Energy (DOE), has sounded off interest on accepting investment propositions and technology deployment anchored on "cradle-to-grave" parameters for nuclear power installations in the country. Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said following the offer by Danish firm Seaborg Technologies, which is “sea-based and they’re trying to push for cradle-to-grave approach; and therefore, even the disposal of the waste can be done by the entity offering the technology.” Seaborg's "cradle-to-grave" offer is the compact molten salt reactor (CMSR) technology, a barge-based model within the genre of the innovative small modular reactors (SMRs) being experimented on by the nuclear industry. The SMR technology of Seaborg, which can come in various configurations of 200 megawatts, 400MW, 600MW and 800MW, is targeted for commercial deployment by 2030 after going through a licensing process that will follow all the standards and safety requirements set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Lotilla emphasized that other energy markets which have been dangling nuclear power investments in the Philippines were not exactly receptive to the "grave" or "waste management" component in the technology deployment process because their laws do not allow foreign wastes to be brought into their country for disposal. On the whole though, Lotilla pointed out that “as far as nuclear is concerned, we should always remain open. I don’t favor banning technologies, we set standards and every technology that needs standards we should be open to. Remember that the key to energy security is diversification, so one should not be placing all eggs in just one basket.” On the enforcement of standards, the energy chief highlighted that safety on the technology’s deployment and operations would be paramount. Other concerns that must be seriously tackled would be environmental impact and radiation protection throughout the nuclear fuel cycle in a project; as well as those on required legislation and regulation. In the energy secretary’s view, it could be a better option for the Philippines to welcome nuclear power installations, including the SMRs. “Once the technology becomes mature and all the elements are in place. We should always welcome innovation. And as we’ve seen, even the developers themselves are realistic about timelines, about technology maturity, so it’s not necessarily a case in which you would be the first reference for application,” he said. Lotilla added “when you look at specific technology, it’s really better to be able to see the technology becomes mature first because there might be kinks along the way that will have to be addressed. If we wait, the later iterations of the same technology may have already addressed the initial ones.” The DOE chief qualified that a "cradle-to-grave" package will be an ideal offer because that will address comprehensive concerns relating to nuclear power installation or SMR technology deployment – and the coverage will be from the design and mode of technology deployment; the site selection; strict enforcement of safety measures during construction and operation of the nuclear facility; then the decommissioning as well as management of radioactive wastes so they will not pose hazard to public health and the environment. When it comes to project siting, Lotilla underscored that one major consideration is to judiciously factor in the natural disasters pummeling the country – primarily the very strong typhoons that could affect power infrastructure facilities. As presented by the executives of Seaborg, the barge-based model of deployment or placing the nuclear reactor in a barge provides more flexibility when it comes to siting, including the warranted connection to the grid. Such will also ease concerns on land procurement, which is innate to traditional land-based deployments, and will also take the edge off on social acceptability issues that have been a dilemma when having the installations at highly populated communities. And by placing the nuclear reactor on a barge, Seaborg indicated that it can have greater control on access to the facility as well as its surroundings, hence, this will enhance the enforcement of safety as well as security on the operation of the nuclear plant. Another advantage of a barge-mounted deployment would be having faster installation, with Seaborg specifying that the construction of the ship for the barge could be done in a matter of one and a half years. Denmark Ambassador to the Philippines Franz-Michael Mellbin similarly stated that “with the sea-based solution that the Danish SMR is proposing, you simply can move that fast – and with the concern of decommissioning, that’s much, much easier to manage -- so this is an advantage of the Danish technology that is hopefully going to be commercially available within the next 5-6 years.” He further said “the complexity is much, much lower for SMR technology, so it would require much less on training and skill-set side compared to what you would need if you are going toward more traditional forms of nuclear.” On all-inclusive crafting of policies and regulations for the industry, Lotilla conveyed that “it is for our Congress to make the final legal framework, it is an indispensable requirement for the use of nuclear power – that the regulatory and legal framework should be in place; and sufficient to deal with the various issues that come with the use of nuclear power.” He thus noted that “I would look forward to Congress coming up with the appropriate legal framework for that.”