Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Aussie firms eye PPP for nuclear reactors

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Australian firms Southern Infrastructure Pty Ltd. and  Kaizen ANZ Pty Ltd. expressed  interest to enter into a public-private-partnership  agreement with the Philippine government to build small nuclear reactors for the country.

Secretary Alfredo Pascual of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Monday met with officials of Southern Infrastructure  and Kaizen for the potential of developing, building, and operating an initial 40 megawatts Thorium fueled simple — high — temperature gas-cooled reactor — STGR20 (V) to deliver a safe, sustainable and green (CO2=0) base load energy at the lowest kWh rate in the market or about $0.03.8 per kilowatt hour.

According to the DTI, the system will also be able to produce green hydrogen for transport, desalinated water as a by-product and gamma radiation as a by-product to allow long term storage of food products.

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The project will start by mid-2024 and finish construction by  2027 and is expected to generate at least 1,000 local jobs during its construction and operation.

The DTI said Southern Infrastructure and Kaizen have expertise in complex infrastructure projects for government and the private sector, both in Australia and internationally.

Pascual is  in  Adelaide ahead of  the 6th Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting (PAMM) today, October 10.

During the meeting with Southern Infrastructure  managing director Paul Watson, Pascual  underscored that the Philippines is looking into alternative renewable sources of power such as hydrogen and nuclear while also exploring further studies to establish relevant policies and sustainable practices.

He also cited the Philippines’ policies on foreign ownership for renewable energy (RE) projects, which were recently relaxed to promote the sector. This is also in an active effort to reach the country’s target of at least 35 percent share of RE in the power generation mix by 2030 and a further 50 percent by 2040.

Meanwhile, the 6th PAMM represents an important opportunity to chart the course of the newly established strategic partnership between the Philippines and Australia.

Key areas of discussion will include bilateral trade, investment, and economic relations, security and maritime cooperation, development cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, and regional and global issues of mutual interest.  Irma Isip

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