Japan, US to help ‘advance Philippine civil nuclear energy program’
JAPAN and the United States have committed to help the Philippines develop its civil nuclear program as part of the three countries’ agreement to boost their trilateral cooperation on various fronts.
The commitment to expand their partnership on safe nuclear energy followed the Philippines’ “request for further training and capacity building for scientists, engineers, relevant personnel and policymakers” who would work on civil nuclear programs and policies.
“Our three nations seek to expand trilateral cooperation in the Philippines on the deployment of clean energy technologies, including renewable energy projects… to support energy requirements in the Philippines and help ensure a just energy transition,” the three countries said in a Joint Vision Statement that was released after their trilateral meeting at the White House.
“We also plan to deepen trilateral cooperation on civilian nuclear workforce development through a trilateral dialogue this year, to advance the Philippines’ civil nuclear energy program,” it read.
Manila, Tokyo and Washington are also allied in “the transition to clean energy and create high-standard, clean energy supply chain jobs across our three nations” by developing “clear, transparent, and fair market competition with strong protections for labor rights and the environment.”
The US and Japan will “co-host a nuclear energy study tour in Japan for nuclear experts and policy decision-makers from the Philippines,” underscoring that “nuclear energy as an important component of a multifaceted and inclusive clean energy transition.”
The US is the world’s largest producer of nuclear power, accounting for about 30 percent of worldwide generation of nuclear electricity, according to data from the World Nuclear Association.
Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez earlier said that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was “quite excited” to welcome into the Philippines small modular nuclear power companies which are “much safer” and “cleaner” energy options for the country.
“The President is quite excited specifically about a company that is going to be supplying these small nuclear power plants,” Romualdez said.
“We have 7,640 islands. This is going to be perfect for us. It’s going to be much safer, cleaner, and at the same time, it’s very new technology,” he said.
Last year, the Philippines and the United States the “123 agreement,” a landmark deal that provides the legal basis for the US to export nuclear technology to the Philippines for peaceful uses.
Meantime, the Philippines, Japan and the United States also noted that they were supporting “critical minerals industries… as a way to promote resilient and reliable global supply chains for critical minerals.”
“We share the goal of producing and supplying battery materials and batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems for the global marketplace,” the Joint Vision Statement read.
The US said it would include in its International Visitor Leadership Program a training course “to manage a clean energy supply chain… for select participants from Japan and the Philippines.”
Marcos Jr. has been pushing to give renewables a bigger share of the Philippines’ energy mix as the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 requires the country to increase to 35 percent of the share of renewable energy in the power mix by 2030.
In 2008, the share of renewables in the Philippines’ power mix was about 34 percent, according to data from the Department of Energy.
It went down to 21 percent in 2021, data showed.