MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has signed an executive order to include nuclear power in the country's energy mix, as authorities prepare for the phasing out of coal-fired power plants and after earlier efforts failed due to safety concerns.
Signed just three months before Duterte ends his single six-year term, the order also directs an interagency panel the president created in 2020 to look into the viability of reopening the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant . Despite public concerns over safety, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has passionately advocated for nuclear power, which he said could be the answer to the twin problems of precarious supply and high electricity prices.
Previous attempts to pursue nuclear energy in the Philippines failed due to safety concerns, but central to the new plan is the revival of the BNPP, built during the rule of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.