Considering the government's goal of utilizing 1,200 megawatts (MW) of nuclear power capacity by 2032, Meralco Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ronnie Aperocho suggested during a media briefing held Monday that companies looking to develop nuclear energy should prioritize small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) over micro-modular nuclear reactors (MMR).

Aperocho noted that SMRs, with capacities up to 300 MW, significantly surpass MMRs, which only have capacities up to 10 MW.

“If the government has this plan to have 1,200 MW of nuclear power by 2032, micro-modular is not enough. We need to look into SMR and maybe conventional nuclear and all that. We need to look into a lot of options,” he said.

Meralco has an existing partnership with Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. to develop MMR nuclear energy for the Philippines. The company aims to establish a power plant using American technology before 2028. A pre-feasibility study identified five potential locations, but further assessments, especially geological surveys, are necessary to ensure safety.

Meralco chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan acknowledged potential challenges in upgrading from MMRs to SMRs, some of which he learned on a visit to South Korea, where companies actively pursue SMR projects with American nuclear entities.

“They said it turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. So the timetable for deployment of SMR or MMR could be moved back as far as 2032, 2035, that is their current timeframe,” Pangilinan said.

Nuclear education

Meralco plans to increase the number of qualified personnel to lead local nuclear energy development. Meralco Head of Network Planning and Project Management Froilan Savet said representatives will travel to Ontario, Canada next week to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) as part of an agreement to send scholars to study nuclear engineering beginning next year.

Meralco also plans to engage with additional nuclear energy industry stakeholders in the United States and Canada. “As part of that trip also, we are going to Illinois to sign an MOU with the University of Illinois because we're going to send two scholars on nuclear engineering,” Savet said.

Under the Filipino Scholars and Interns on Nuclear Engineering (FISSION) program, five Meralco engineers will participate in a two-year nuclear engineering program at partner institutions abroad. Two participants will commence their studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States, while the remaining three will attend Harbin Engineering University in China.

Upon returning to the Philippines in 2028, the scholars will be reintegrated into Meralco and assigned roles within its nuclear power generation unit.