Nuclear option

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January 26, 2026 | 12:00am

There is so much talk these days about harnessing nuclear energy. There is new technology, it is pointed out, that is easier to handle, the small modular nuclear reactor or SMR.

But the more I read up on the SMRs, the more I am convinced we will not have one of those running in ten years. SMR technology is still not fully commercialized globally.

We had our chance at having an operating nuclear plant, the first in the region, but we blew it.

Sometime in late 1985, we were about to put the Bataan nuclear plant in operation. The uranium fuel rods arrived at the Manila airport and were immediately brought to the site with heavy military escort.

A few weeks before the EDSA uprising, the Bataan nuclear plant was ready to go. But the Americans asked then President Marcos not to operate it. The reasons were more political than safety as the local opposition already had Washington’s ear.

When Cory Aquino assumed the presidency, among her first orders was to mothball the Bataan nuclear plant. The Cory administration didn’t even think it needed to replace the 620 MW that would be lost. Also affected was the 300-MW Caliraya Pumped Storage which was designed to use the excess power of Bataan nuclear at night and release water to produce electricity at peak noon hours.

This failure made power availability one of the most serious problems of Cory Aquino until she turned over the government to Fidel Ramos.

One of the things we did to prepare to run the Bataan nuclear plant was training the operating staff. Some 46 engineers were sent to the US to train. At the end of their training, the engineers took the licensing test for plant operators of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Of this group, 35 passed, two failed and nine went AWOL. When we mothballed the plant, they ended up working in US nuclear plants as they were already licensed by the US NRC.

National Power also sent 102 engineers and other professionals to train in other fields, such as quality assurance,  maintenance and health physics.

Because of all the precautions taken in the construction and staffing of the Bataan plant, I am sure we could have managed to run it as well as other countries with similar plants. The Bataan plant is a smaller version of the plants being built and run by the South Koreans at the time.

Can we run nuclear plants today? Since the proponents are respected private sector power companies, Meralco and Aboitiz Power, there is no reason why we can’t. They will surely ensure safety and run these plants according to international standards.

But these SMRs are still largely conceptual, and may  only now be nearing readiness for the first commercial plant to be built. There are only three operational SMRs in the entire world, and none is in the US. One is on a Russian barge off the Siberian coast; another one is in China and a small test reactor in Japan.

Then there is the cost. Preliminary data suggest that SMRs will not be grid-competitive compared to traditional baseload or renewable sources during their initial “first-of-a-kind” phase. While they promise high reliability, their starting costs are significantly higher than current Philippine grid averages.

Initial SMR projects face high upfront capital costs. Mass production may meaningfully reduce costs. Estimates for early SMR designs range from $89 to over $100 per MWh (roughly P5.10 to P5.70+ per kWh). Cost could exceed $100 per MWh when construction overruns and financing costs are included.

Despite a higher starting price, Micro Modular Reactors or MMRs with capacities of  five to 15 MW are considered viable in the Philippines as replacements for diesel in off-grid island provinces. Electricity is currently generated by expensive diesel plants with rates often exceeding P8.00 to P9.00/kWh. At this level, MMRs become immediately competitive.

Then there are the hyperscale data centers that require 24/7 carbon-free power. Tech companies are moving beyond power purchase agreements (PPAs) to direct investment and financing of SMR technology to secure future supply.

SMRs offer a way for data centers to generate their own power on-site or nearby, without disturbing the power rates in the grid. Communities in the US are now up in arms as their power bills rise when data centers hook up to the power grid.

The Philippines is perhaps banking on the “nth-of-a-kind” model of SMRs. It is claimed that once SMRs move into mass factory production, capital costs will fall to potentially bring them below the cost of conventional nuclear and closer to parity with natural gas. But as of 2026, this remains a future projection rather than a current market reality.

CNN reports that another problem for SMRs is fuel. “The more unconventional designs, those cooled by salt or gas, often require a special type of fuel called high-assay low-enriched uranium, known as HALEU (pronounced hay-loo). The amounts available are limited and the supply chain has been dominated by Russia, despite efforts to build up a domestic supply.”

SMRs still need to be proven despite all the hype. It may be best for us to watch and wait for now. Still, SMRs could mean data centers don’t strain the grid and push up people’s electricity bills and they could be used in remote areas instead of diesel generators.

The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute is supposedly looking at a very small 100-kilowatt micro-modular gas-cooled reactor intended as a proof of concept for research, training nuclear professionals and demonstrating potential for lowering electricity costs in remote areas. No word on target dates.

It takes a lot of time for anything to move in our country so it is right to start preparing now to consider SMRs. By the time we are ready, maybe the cost would have gone down enough for us to seriously consider a nuclear option.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected].

Follow him on X @boochanco