THE GOVERNMENT is open to selling the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), which has been mothballed for 40 years, to private investors while a South Korean feasibility study on its potential revival awaits completion, the Department of Energy (DoE) said.
“One option for government is either to sell the property to a developer or (to take up a role in the development process),” Energy Secretary Sharon S. Garin said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the World Nuclear Supply Chain conference.
Ms. Garin said, however, that the government is still evaluating whether the facility is technically viable and safe to operate.
Korea Hydro Nuclear Power Co. Ltd. (KHNP) feasibility study, which started in January 2025, has yielded “positive” results, according to Ms. Garin.
“There are several options that they have given us but this is actually a feasibility study done by Korea. Paid for by Korea also, without commitment from the Philippines, whether to follow it or to construct what they advise,” Ms. Garin said.
In 2024, the DoE and KHNP signed a memorandum of understanding to conduct a comprehensive technical and economic feasibility study on the potential rehabilitation of the BNPP.
The study also aims to explore other nuclear technologies and potential alternative sites for nuclear energy development.
The BNPP, located at Napot Point in Morong, Bataan, was completed in 1985 but did not commence operations due to the disruptions caused by the 1986 change of government and the fears generated by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the former Soviet Union.
In 2022, the Philippines began reassessing the role of nuclear energy in its power mix, setting a target of 1,200 megawatts (MW) of initial capacity, rising to 2,400 MW by 2035 and 4,800 MW by 2050.
The DoE is still developing auction rules for nuclear developers.
“The target… is to set clear guidance on how nuclear will actually come,” according to Patrick T. Aquino, director of the Energy Utilization Management Bureau, thereby fleshing out the Philippine Energy Plan which positions nuclear as complementing renewable energy.
Mr. Aquino said the draft rules envision the first kilowatts of nuclear-generated electricity being delivered by 2038. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera