The operation of small modular reactors (SMR) using nuclear energy in off-grid areas should be given to cooperatives to maximize its benefits, according to the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI).
“Our appeal is that if nuclear technology is allowed and its generation sold to electric cooperatives, we hope that their ownership will also be given to cooperatives and not to capitalists. If capitalists also own them, the benefits that will be passed to the public could diminish,” said Carlo Arcilla, PNRI director, at the Laging Handa public briefing on Monday.
Arcilla said off-grid SMR operations are perfect for settings like Occidental Mindoro and Palawan, for example.
He welcomed the interest shown by American companies to put up SMR nuclear plants in the country as announced by the government itself just last week.
Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual previously bared possible approaches to attracting nuclear investments from the US to the Philippines.
According to Pascual, the Philippines can either seek the supply of the nuclear reactors from NuScale Power Corp. and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) or get them to manufacture the reactors in the country instead.
NuScale Power Corp., a publicly traded US firm, has bared plans to build small nuclear power plants in the Philippines while USNC, a Seattle-based company, planned making the Philippines as the first site of its nuclear energy facility in Southeast Asia.
