Despite the completion of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 which never produced a single kilowatt of electricity, the country did not have a policy for the use of nuclear power as a source of electricity until the executive order that former President Rodrigo Duterte issued.

A nuclear use policy became urgent on the heels of the Department of Energy’s moratorium on the use of coal to generate electricity.

Based on the DoE projections, electricity purely from renewable energy which is the global target beyond 2030, electricity supply will fall short of a frightening 68 gigawatts or 68,000 megawatts by 2040.

Put in the depletion of natural gas resources even if new wells are discovered in Malampaya, a potential crisis faces the nation without nuclear power augmentation.

The leap-frogging economic growth also requires that new sources of bulk power are developed.

The DoE has identified 16 areas as ideal sites for nuclear power plants which are Bataan, Batangas, Cagayan, Negros Occidental, Zamboanga del Norte, General Santos, Sulu, and Quezon.

These areas can accommodate small modular reactors, particularly those that are far from the power backbone being managed by the National Grid Corp of the Philippines.

“These areas are considered because they are isolated and the availability of water in the cooling system, basically based on general standards, but there is a process to be followed,” he said, adding that the possibility of integrating nuclear power in the country might come as early as 2027.

A DoE audit revealed the need for the country to shift to a more flexible power supply mix.

Cusi said nuclear power will be a necessary part of the energy mix moving forward.

He said to speed up the power build-up, the government allowed, through an executive order, 100 percent foreign ownership in large-scale geothermal exploration, development, and utilization projects with an initial capital of at least $50 million.

While the country embraced a technology-neutral policy, he said the periodic DoE assessment required innovative solutions within an encompassing energy policy.

To cap his six-year term as DoE head with a Department Circular, Cusi provided the guidelines for the third Open and Competitive Selection Process for RE Service Contracts.

In 2019, he said the Philippines had the highest RE share in the total primary energy supply among countries within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region.

The keywords in the energy mix progression, he added, would be indigenous and clean energy sources.

Nonetheless, Cusi said adopting a nuclear program and the eventual use of the fuel source involves the bigger ambition of protecting energy and national security.

When eventually the country starts employing nuclear energy, Cusi said the nation can look back to Executive Order 164 which provided the adoption of a “National Position for a Nuclear Energy Program.”

The success of the unrelenting push for the country to enter the nuclear age in power generation that started during the administration of President Marcos Sr. until nearly 40 years later under Marcos Jr. will be the crowning glory for energy security.