In what could be the start of the development of the small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear solar technology in the Philippines, US energy firm NuScale Power Corp. is looking for a possible site for its $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion investment in the Philippines which when realized would generate around 430 megawatts of power supply by 2031.
This was one of the private sector investments generated during President Ferdinand Marcos’ official visit in Washington DC.
While there, Marcos who is also the concurrent agriculture secretary, and US Department of Agriculture officials led by Secretary Thomas Vilsack, agreed to set a ministerial team on agricultural cooperation that would ensure food efficiency and security. The US also agreed to provide the Philippines with research and technology that will boost the industry while providing greater access for local agricultural products to the American market.
On Monday, officials of the Oregon-based company led by its executive vice president for business Clayton Scott called on President Marcos Jr. where the former expressed NuScale’s interest to invest in the Philippines.
Scott also expressed “very high confidence that our technology will perform as expected” in the Philippines setting.
The Department of Energy (DOE) is currently updating its energy planning roadmap until the year 2050 which, among others, assesses the impact of nuclear energy in the country’s energy mix in terms of reducing carbon emission and costing, among others.
The DOE has identified 13 sites for conventional nuclear power plants including Bataan and up to 16 sites for SMRs.
NuScale is the industry-leading provider of proprietary and innovative advanced SMR nuclear technology and the first and only SMR certified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
NuScale is known for developing a small nuclear power system that is described as “safe, modular, and scalable”, and is committed to help “power the global energy transition by delivering safe, scalable and reliable carbon-free energy.” It currently has existing projects in Utah, Romania, Indonesia, and Poland.
The President in his meeting with the Vilsack, stressed the Philippines plans to address the “weaknesses that we had discovered during the lockdowns during the pandemic, at the height of the pandemic, and the shortages in food supply.”
Through the agricultural cooperation, the Philippines is hoping to strengthen the country’s agriculture research for development and capacity-building initiatives specific to the advancement of biotechnology agenda and the setting up of biotechnology centers, geospatial databases, climate-proof facilities, and information services, as well as expand market access of Philippine agricultural products to the US. The USDA, for its part, looks forward to strengthened knowledge transfer between the two counties as well as continued cooperation on agriculture innovation systems.
Marcos expressed hope that the upcoming Food Security Dialogue on May 5 will further boost cooperation on capacity-building and technology support as the country works together in building effective and efficient supply chains, export, and value-chain development of agricultural commodities.
