The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said it will pursue a pre-feasibility study on possible modular nuclear reactor projects in the country.
Manuel Pangilinan, Meralco chairman and chief executive officer, said the company has engaged American firm Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. on the pre-feasibility study which will lead to a full blown feasibility study
“One of the agenda items presented to us is the proposal to conduct feasibility study in the next two months or so,” Pangilinan said the Giga Summit hosted by the company in Makati City yesterday.
Pangilinan said the cost of the project will be among the items to be discussed in the feasibility studies, adding that Ultra Safe currently has modular nuclear reactors with capacities between 5 to 15 megawatts (MW).
Pangilinan said modular nuclear reactors are apt for island provinces especially in powering hyperscale data centers and water desalination plants.
Meanwhile, Meralco, through the Meralco Power Academy, also launched the Filipino Scholars and Interns on Nuclear Engineering (FISSION) program to develop skilled professionals and advance the Philippines’ push for the integration of nuclear power in the country’s energy portfolio.
Pangilinan said Meralco will invest in local talents and support aspiring Filipino nuclear engineers to help accelerate the development of the country’s technical and regulatory talent pipeline through education and training in the highly specialized field of nuclear engineering.
“Meralco will send some of our engineers to a two-year graduate program targeting local talents who are graduates and practicing Mechanical, Electrical, Material Engineering, and related areas in universities in the US, in Canada, Korea, Japan, France,” Pangilinan said.
Part of FISSION’s objectives is to address identified gaps that could impede the government’s transformative initiatives, such as the absence of expert safety regulators and technical professionals capable of operating nuclear technologies, specifically the small modular reactors and micro modular reactors.
Scheduled to run from 2025 to 2027, the two-year graduate program will be offered to graduates and practitioners in the fields of mechanical, electrical, materials and metallurgical engineering, physics and other related disciplines.
Meralco is also eyeing top global engineering universities, including the University of California in Berkeley, University of Illinois, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, University of Ontario Institute of Technology and the Université Paris-Saclay for the program. — Jed Macapagal
