The government is planning to update nuclear agreements with at least five countries in accordance with the nuclear renaissance pathway, as fleshed out in the newly crafted 2024-2050 Philippine Nuclear Energy Program.

The updating of multilateral and bilateral nuclear covenants, according to the document issued by the Department of Energy (DOE), will be pursued with Argentina, France, Hungary, India and Japan.

These deals will be in addition to the 123 Agreement that was already cemented with the United States and the nuclear deals currently being sorted out with Canada and South Korea.

“Bilateral and multilateral agreements have been reviewed with preparatory work for similar agreements with Canada and South Korea are being started. These will be in addition to or an update of the agreements with Japan, Hungary, India, France, and Argentina,” the nuclear roadmap had stipulated.

The NEP similarly envisioned that these deals would be concretized “in anticipation of the passage of the comprehensive nuclear regulatory framework on assessment of existing laws relevant to nuclear energy and technology.”

The country’s rollout of nuclear power installations will kick off in 2032 at 1,200 megawatts, to be ramped up to 2,400MW by 2035 and 4,800MW by 2050.

The propounded contracting mechanism for capacity drawn from nuclear power projects, including the terms of the targeted power supply agreements (PSAs), is expected to be firmed up by 2027.

The initial policies for the country’s rebirth of nuclear power development had already been issued by the past administration, and the current government leadership is working on other milestones – including those on the crafting of regulatory frameworks, the establishment of institutions that will oversee the nuclear sector, re-assessment of siting, advancing training initiatives for the nuclear workforce and on to the actual rollout of nuclear power projects.

The repowering of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) has also been integrated in the NEP – and South Korea has indicated interest to carry out a new feasibility study to re-evaluate prospects for this venture, primarily on the cost of the power facility’s targeted repowering.

As emphasized in the NEP, nuclear can complement renewable energy investments “in the repurposing of coal power”, which is one of the anchors of the energy transition agenda being pushed by the Marcos administration.

“Advancements in nuclear power plant technologies also provide a cost-competitive alternative, particularly the small modular reactors (SMRs) or microreactors (MMRs) whose resource requirements can lead to faster deployment when compared to the conventional pressurized water reactors,” the NEP expounded.

It further highlighted that “SMRs have reduced fuel requirements when compared to PWRs,” adding that “SMR may be a sustainable source of power supply for off-grid areas.”

On the regulation front, the NEP qualified that “the independent nuclear regulatory commission is expected to be fully operational by 2026, including the determination of government role through policies and/or legislation.”

By next year, it added that “the necessary laws on nuclear legal and regulatory framework are targeted to be in place,” then the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) shall also be formulated accordingly.