Negotiations for the 123 Agreement started in November 2022.
Marcos said he was fulfilling an earlier pledge to build “affordable, reliable and sustainable energy supply for the entire country to meet our growing energy demands.”
What a 5-nation military exercise says about US strategy in the Indo-Pacific
What a 5-nation military exercise says about US strategy in the Indo-Pacific
US Congress approval is needed for the deal, which will allow a peaceful transfer of nuclear material, equipment and information in adherence with non-proliferation requirements.
As of end-2022, the US had 23 agreements covering 47 countries, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and democratically governed Taiwan.
The US in recent years has enthusiastically embraced nuclear power as a reliable and carbon-free form of electricity, rejecting environmentalists’ concerns about the risk of accidents.
“As peak energy demands are expected to nearly quadruple in the Philippines by 2040, nuclear power can consistently produce enough energy to meet the community’s critical needs without emitting more greenhouse gases,” Blinken said.
The Philippines wants to tap nuclear power as a viable alternative baseload power source as it seeks to retire coal plants to help meet climate goals and boost energy security. The Southeast Asian nation is vulnerable to volatile global oil prices, seasonal power outages, and high electricity rates.
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Nuclear fusion ‘breakthrough’: US laboratory’s net energy gain paves way for clean power future
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Previous attempts to pursue nuclear energy in the Philippines were halted over safety concerns, but Marcos has discussed the possibility of reviving a mothballed nuclear power plant, built in response to an energy crisis during the rule of the late Philippines strongman and his namesake father.
Completed in 1984, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was mothballed two years later following the ouster of the older Marcos, the deadly Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and corruption allegations.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse