DOE readies transition docs, hopes next admin will pursue nuclear power adoption

The Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing a set of documents containing the initiatives it hopes the next administration will continue, including the unrealized adoption of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix during the Duterte administration.

“What we are preparing is a comprehensive report by Secretary [Alfonso] Cusi to his successor,” Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said at a virtual press briefing.

Fuentebella said the DOE will push for the Duterte administration’s National Position for Nuclear Energy’s inclusion in the legislative framework of the next administration.

“Kung tutungo nga ang ating bansa sa pag-develop ng nuclear program, (If the country will proceed to the development of a nuclear energy program),” he said.

Presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and presumptive vice president Sara Duterte have earlier vowed to hasten the country's adoption of nuclear power in a bid to lower electricity rates after President Rodrigo Duterte issued an executive order tapping nuclear power as an energy source along with other alternative energy resources.

Duterte's EO 164 states that the national "government will assess, review and develop nuclear energy plans using integrated approaches that consider both the provision of energy supplies, and the role of energy efficiency in meeting increasing demand for energy."

Marcos had already expressed intention to revisit the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), which has been mothballed for more than three decades.

Apart from the nuclear power adoption, Fuentebella said the DOE will also leave to the next administration the responsibility of “strengthening the energy resiliency of the country as far as the development of indigenous and clean sources is concerned” as well attending to “what is happening in the international community,” particularly the Russia-Ukraine war which brought jitters to global oil market causing prices to jack up.

“Exploration activities should be continuous… There’s a very good potential as far as offshore wind is concerned and connecting it to the grid,” he said.

The DOE official added it will also propose to the next administration the establishment of a strategic petroleum reserve that will serve as buffer stock to cushion the impact of price hikes resulting from global oil supply disruptions.

“We have a big push for other technologies not only for nuclear but also a big push for renewables… focus on indigenous and clean sources,” Fuentebella said.—AOL, GMA News