Philippine President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Junior said on Monday that he intends to resume construction of the mothballed Bataan nuclear power plant (NPP), that was initiated by his father, former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Senior, the ABS-CBN broadcaster reported
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd May, 2022) Philippine President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Junior said on Monday that he intends to resume construction of the mothballed Bataan nuclear power plant (NPP), that was initiated by his father, former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Senior, the ABS-CBN broadcaster reported.
In March, Philippine Nuclear Research Institute Director Carlo Arcilla said that South Korea offered to rehabilitate the NPP at a cost of $1.1 billion.
The Philippine president-elect said he discussed the offer with the South Korean ambassador, and a power expert from Seoul has already visited the Bataan NPP to see whether or not it could be revived, or a new one should be built, the broadcaster reported.
The Philippines needs to have better power supply if it is going to "industrialize post-pandemic," Marcos told reporters at a press conference.
The construction of the $2.2 billion Bataan NPP was launched in 1980s but was not commissioned due to the overthrow of then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and safety concerns in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine.
The subsequent Philippine administration sold uranium fuel from the NPP to the United States in 1997 at a loss of $35 million.
