Hydrogen seen powering nation

The country needs to build capacity soon, otherwise we will have brownouts.

Nuke on the table Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi (center, left) receives a copy of the INIR Mission Report from IAEA Deputy Director-General Mikhail Chudakov (center, right) at a ceremony yesterday in Taguig City.

Two revolutionary power sources, nuclear and hydrogen is now at the forefront of studies being conducted by the Department of Energy to resolve the looming electricity supply shortage as a result of an exploding economy.

At the handover ceremony yesterday of the Phase 1 Mission Report of the Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) Mission, Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary Alfonso Cusi said while the nuclear option is being reviewed, the DoE is also looking at the hydrogen power alternative.

Cusi explained that the country needs to build capacity soon, “otherwise we will have brownouts.”

“We are not fixated at nuclear. We’re studying hydrogren,” the DoE chief indicated.

The energy chief, nonetheless, said nuclear energy remains a source which has an immediate promise.

“Nuclear has been proven reliable and efficient. If we started using nuclear energy before, the economic landscape could have been different,” according to Cusi.

During the term of former President Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippines embarked on the construction of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) to become one of the first Asian countries to have a nuclear energy program.

After Mr. Marcos has been overthrown in 1986, his successor former President Cory Aquino ordered the development of the nuclear program halted resulting to the mothballing of the BNPP.

“Korea adopted nuclear energy the same time we attempted, look at Korea now, look at us,” Cusi noted.

Milko Kovachev, head of the Nuclear Infrastructure Development Section of the Paris-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who delivered the result of the study said the Philippines needs to involve a broader range of stakeholders in completing the work required “to enable national commitment to introduce nuclear power.”

He added a legal and regulatory framework that ensures and demonstrates a commitment to safety, security and non-proliferation also needed to be developed.

Cusi added that West Philippine Sea resources also have to be harnessed to ensure energy security “as Malampaya is facing depletion in 2027.”

“With energy security at the cornerstone of our country’s energy agenda, we need to bring to the forefront, intelligent, informed, and comprehensive dialogue on whether we could safely utilize nuclear power as one of our alternative sources to meet our ever-growing energy requirements,” Cusi indicated.

For the past three years, the DoE has been working hand in hand with the IAEA to find clear answers to all longstanding questions on nuclear power, “most especially its safety aspect,” Cusi emphasized.

Cusi said a collateral development was on hydrogen source of power in which the DoE had tapped Japanese experts to study hydrogen as a probable resource, whether for battery storage, alternative fuel for the transport sector or as tangible resource for power generation.

In a recent visit to Japan, Cusi said the concept on hydrogen was presented to him and since then a study on its applicability in the country is being done buy discussion I made a month ago when I was in Japan — it was presented to me. The study is being done by a Japanese company,” the energy chief said.

Initial assessments of the IAEA, hydrogen has the potential of becoming a critical part of a more sustainable and secure energy future, especially when it reaches commercial-scale deployment.

The Royal Dutch Shell group has been advancing the commercial deployment of hydrogen in the country as a feasible resource to underpin the country’s future energy needs.

INIR Missions are conducted by the IAEA to assist member-states such as the Philippines in evaluating the status of the 19 infrastructure requirements, to determine the possibility of introducing a safe, secure, and sustainable national nuclear program.

Upon the directive of Cusi, the DoE-Nuclear Energy Program Implementing Organization was created in October 2016, in compliance with IAEA policy guidelines, to spearhead unified and coordinated efforts and activities relative to the conduct of various studies and research on the feasibility of nuclear energy development in the Philippines.

On 10 December 2018, the INIR Mission Phase 1 was conducted in Manila, where the DoE presented its Self-Evaluation Report, which outlined progress made relative to the 19 nuclear infrastructure requirement issues identified by the IAEA in their Milestones Approach, a comprehensive and systemic guide for countries considering the introduction of nuclear power.