Two sites in Puerto Princesa City has been among the shortlisted 15 sites nationwide identified as potential locations for nuclear power plants.
These are Tagbarungis in Barangay Inagawan-Sub and Barangay Concepcion.
The other 13 sites are located in the provinces of Zamboanga, Cagayan, Negros Oriental, and Occidental.
The 15-site shortlist is being studied by the Nuclear Energy Program Inter-Agency Committee (NEP-IAC). These sites were first identified in studies conducted as far back as the 1970s and as recently as 1995.
NEP-IAC Chairman and Spokesperson Gerardo D. Erguiza, Jr said in a Laging Handa briefing that the 15 sites “will be subjected to rigorous evaluation which will involve the inputs of experts around the world, including those from the International Atomic Energy Agency.”
Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) Director Carlo A. Arcilla said President Rodrigo R. Duterte has to sign off on the NEP-IAC’s recommendations on adopting a national position on nuclear energy program before further consideration of the 15 sites. The committee submitted its report to the President in December 2020.
Arcilla explained that the stakeholders’ agreement is key so that the proposed projects will push through since nuclear plants cannot be established and operated without the agreement of the people within the area.
He said that nuclear has the potential to address the demand for baseload power, adding that it can “back up solar and wind, even more, stable than coal.”
In a statement, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said nuclear energy can potentially contribute to obtaining energy security and sustainability.
“It is high time that the feasibility of safely utilizing nuclear energy to meet our energy requirements be considered,” he said.
If the Philippines pursued nuclear power decades ago, its socio-economic landscape might have been “extremely different” and at par with developed countries such as South Korea, which has its own national nuclear energy program, adds Cusi.
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