LONDON, England – The Philippine government is eyeing to cement an agreement with state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) for a new round and more comprehensive feasibility study on the planned repowering of the 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

In her presentation at the World Nuclear Symposium here, Energy Undersecretary Sharon S. Garin declared that “there are ongoing discussions for MOU (memorandum of understanding) with South Korea on a BNPP feasibility study.”

She qualified that the propounded re-evaluation will be a follow through to the pre-feasibility study report that South Korea had done for the mothballed Bataan nuclear power facility in 2017 under the Duterte administration.

Separately, Garin divulged in an interview that the Department of Energy (DOE) “has already submitted comments on the earlier proposal that was submitted by KHNP. We responded and it is now with the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs).”

She emphasized that “the lead agency is DFA, because we made it as a protocol that every international agreement that we have will have to go through the Department of Foreign Affairs. So, this deal takes the form of a government-to-government arrangement.”

KHNP, which is a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), has been operating large fleets of hydro as well as nuclear power facilities in South Korea.

The next step for the parties, according to Garin, will be to advance into negotiations, “so we will need to wait for Korea’s response on our submitted comments before we proceed to negotiations.”

The energy official expounded “South Korea is willing to do it (feasibility study) at their own cost and resources for the re-assessment of BNPP, which we need -- so that we can settle the discussion once for all, whether it’s still feasible to repower it or not.”

She added “Korea had already done a study before, but we need a more in-depth study this time, because a full-blown assessment is still lacking. Once we finish the agreement, it may still take time to do the actual assessment and study – that could take a minimum of one year or longer.”

Garin conveyed that “based on initial discussions we have with the Koreans, they are willing to do the study – and there’s no requirement that it will be them to do the BNPP’s rehabilitation in case it will be assessed in the study that it would still be viable for repowering.”

The energy official highlighted that one crucial point that has to be re-assessed in the study is on the scale of financing required for BNPP’s rehabilitation in case it would be established that it could still be resuscitated back into commercial operations.

Previous studies have reckoned that the aggregate cost for BNPP’s overhaul and to have it brought back to electricity generating state could be in the range of $1.0 to $2.0 billion; but such amounts would have to be re-validated or updated in a new study.

Global experts that have looked into BNPP, including technical teams from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as far back as 2008, generally concluded that the nuclear facility may still have hopes for re-powering, but some components will already require replacements and modernization, hence, that may inflate the overall cost of rehabilitation.