'With micro modular reactors, PH could emerge as an energy powerhouse'

Re Mr. Stephen CuUnjieng’s “The right Marcos legacy in power, revisited”:

I AM writing this letter in response to the column of Stephen CuUnjieng published on March 29. I have deep respect and admiration for Mr. CuUnjieng, but I feel compelled to respond to some of the content of his article.

Mr. CuUnjieng erroneously states, “Yet we are the only Asian country outside of China hyping nuclear power and treating it as some promise that will soon be fulfilled.” As a matter of fact, South Korea, India, Japan, Taiwan, Pakistan, Iran and the UAE have large nuclear plants in operation, and Saudi Arabia is planning two nuclear plants with 2,900 MW capacity. Indonesia and Thailand have taken meaningful steps toward including nuclear energy in their power mix.

Mr. CuUnjieng opines, “But nuclear power, and even worse modular new nuclear, is not cost or time-efficient.” It is possible that he is not aware of what our forward-looking president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., referred to as “cutting-edge nuclear technologies.” Generation 4 micromodular reactors are known to be safer, more flexible, smaller, proliferation-resistant and much less costly than earlier nuclear technologies.

Mr. CuUnijieng wrote: “[Nuclear energy] is not needed given our relatively low power demand per capita given our manufacturing desert.” The Philippines is a “manufacturing desert” precisely because it has not yet secured a reliable and plentiful form of energy. With MMRs, the Philippines could emerge as an energy powerhouse, manufacturing goods and services, including nuclear reactors for export. If we ignore or delay efforts for micro modular nuclear, we risk stalling the Philippines’ growth potential.

Mr CuUnjieng states: “There are renewable alternatives for countries.” I would like to challenge him to think about micro-nuclear and renewables being complementary and not “either or.” Rather than alternatives to nuclear, renewables can be viewed as supplementary power sources that can help lower the overall cost of energy while reducing the carbon footprint. The fourth generation micro modular nuclear reactors (MMRs) are ideal for eventually integrating with renewables to remedy their intermittency and provide the steady base-load power needed to attract potential manufacturing and IT locators and enable Philippine cities to develop into “Smart Cities,” as many aspire to become. In fact, the intermittency of renewables will only get more severe due to worsening climate change conditions.

The Philippines has become a world power in IT-BPM — and I have been privileged to be part of that journey when I worked for IBM Philippines and later for the DoST’s ICT office. We have the potential to become a regional hub for data centers, and fourth-generation MMRs can enable us to realize this aspiration. Big Tech companies have settled on MMRs as the ideal solution to meet the enormous energy requirements that data centers need to sustain generative AI. Microsoft has hired USNC’s Archie Mahoran as director of nuclear technologies, with the full consent of USNC.

My late father was a driving force behind much of the energy advances of the first Marcos administration that Mr. CuUnjieng advocates we focus on. But if my father were alive today, he himself would acknowledge their shortcomings. Geothermal power is a geographically limited source of power that is available only near volcanoes. Hydro is seasonal, providing most power during the rainy months but weak during the dry months when power demand is much higher. Altogether, renewables require a complex and high-cost transmission grid to handle the intermittent power production, including overbuilt transmission lines and energy storage. And then there is the real problem of who will finance the expense of transmission and storage between islands.

Energy wealth is human wealth. We want to help transform the Philippines into a high-energy per capita country with massive industrial capability and commensurate wealth. Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) welcomes and encourages other renewable energy sources and would be cooperative in complementing them.

In the interest of continuing an informed dialogue on nuclear energy, we hope we can invite Mr. CuUnjieng to an open discussion at a date and place of your convenience. To quote Pasteur, “Change favors the prepared man, and being open-minded is key.”

Alejandro P. Merchor III

Head, Philippine operations

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC)