TORONTO – The Nuclear Energy Program Inter-Agency Committee (NEPIAC) led by the Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking the concurrence of the Department of Finance (DOF) to a proposed deal with the South Korean government on a new feasibility study that must be undertaken to re-assess technical elements as well as the economic viability of repowering the mothballed 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) project.

In an interview on the sidelines of the NextGen2NetZero Nuclear Technology Forum organized by the Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries here, Energy Undersecretary Sharon S. Garin divulged that Malacanang, through the Office of the Executive Secretary, has already endorsed the planned signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) for a validation-study that must underpin targets to resuscitate BNPP to its operating state.

“Malacanang has endorsed it (MOA signing) to the Office of  Finance Secretary (Ralph) Recto, we should understand that he is still new in his post, so we are just waiting for him to take time to review it,” she said.

Garin emphasized that the propounded MOA signing was also endorsed to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and there’s already a positive indication that the agency will agree to the targeted new round of study on BNPP – and that will serve as a final shot for the Philippine government to have its ‘closure’ if the facility can still be rehabilitated or the site be already transformed for other purposes.

“We’re just really waiting for final consent of the other government agencies. 
I don’t think I’ve received any response from any agency disapproving it, so far so good.
This is just an internal matter within the Executive Branch – it’s just a matter of protocol that we have to follow the processes of our counterpart-agencies,” she stressed.

Garin conveyed that apart from securing the concurrence of the Finance Secretary, there are also discussions at the Executive level on who would be the signatory to the MOA from the Philippine government’s side.

“When we will sign the MOA with Korea, we don’t even know yet who will sign for the government – if it will be the Energy Secretary or President Marcos, those are the other discussions that we’re having,” she indicated.

Energy Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla is the chair of NEPIAC, which is the inter-agency body that will be implementing the country’s nuclear energy program.

On the warranted imprimatur from the finance chief, Garin explained that such step will be highly necessary because Recto holds board chairmanship at state-run National Power Corporation (Napocor) which currently owns BNPP.

When asked on a firmer timeline on the signing of the MOA, Garin asserted “we originally targeted that it could have been signed late last year, but let’s just say, we will do it this year.”

She further stated “we’ve been talking to Korea the whole time on this and we’ve been continuously negotiating – because as NEPIAC, we do negotiations directly with our counterparts; and with the help of the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs), we’ve already agreed on the version of the MOA to be signed.”

The energy official acknowledged though that one major dilemma to be fleshed out eventually will be on funding, especially so since previous studies had pegged $1.0 billion to $2.0 billion worth of investments for the nuclear facility’s rehabilitation.

Garin qualified that if the outcome of the study will eventually turn out favorable on BNPP’s repowering, one of the options being explored is to place its operations under Napocor.

She argued that the prohibition for NPC on the ownership and operation of generation assets under Section 47 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) only applies to greenfield or new power plant projects, but in the case of BNPP, it is already an existing asset of the state-run power firm.

“It (EPIRA) didn’t say that Napocor cannot operate plants that are not new – there’s no specific prohibition for that, so it might be possible that Napocor will be designated to still operate it,” she expounded.

The government somehow regards BNPP as the Philippines’ shortest way toward nuclear renaissance – especially on the target to integrate 1,200MW of nuclear in the country’s energy mix by 2024.