Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez on Monday, 8 August said that the Philippines would explore the potential use of modular nuclear power facilities, which are claimed to be the future’s clean energy source.
In an interview, Romualdez claimed that the US will provide the power plants and that they were “rapidly” being created.
“We are seriously going to look into it. I think President Marcos is quite excited about it. As a matter of fact, I think NuScale which is a company developing this technology is now having a partnership with the local energy company here in the Philippines,” he said.
“Hopefully, President Marcos will be able to meet with the NuScale if and when he goes to the United States to do this further,” he added.
Romualdez added that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant will not be revived if modular power plants will be installed.
“Not at all. The modular nuclear power plants are very small in nature and they say that it’s even easier to install,” he said.
“It’s much safer by the way. It’s very much safer. I’m told by those developing it that it really is quite the way of the future as far as clean energy is concerned,” Romualdez added.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has previously stated his support for incorporating nuclear energy into the nation’s energy mix and the requirement for additional power facilities.