Philippines Agreement With Russia Includes Feasibility Study On Abandoned Bataan Project

16 Nov (NucNet): The Philippines and Russia have signed an agreement to develop nuclear energy and to look into the possibility of reviving an abandoned nuclear power station project at Bataan, near Manila, the Southeast Asian country’s Department of Energy (DOE) said on 15 November 2017. In a statement, the DOE said it had signed a memorandum of cooperation with Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom. The document was signed on the sidelines of the 12th East Asia Summit by Philippines energy secretary Alfonso Cusi and Rosatom deputy director-general Nikolay Spassky. The DOE said cooperation with Russia is intended to develop a variety of applications for nuclear energy “particularly for power generation”. It will also include an audit and assessment of the Bataan nuclear power station’s technical condition, including the possibility of its rehabilitation. The DOE said the agreement with Russia also includes plans for feasibility studies on the construction in the Philippines of onshore and offshore small modular reactors. The Philippines has no commercial nuclear plants. The Bataan nuclear station, about 100 km northwest Manila, has a single Westinghouse pressurised water reactor that was completed over 20 years ago but has never operated. Work on the unit was halted in 1985 when a number of contractual disputes arose between the Philippine government and Westinghouse.