As the government prepares a nuclear power development policy, several Japanese firms are reportedly willing to help in crafting the technical study to underpin such component in the Philippine energy blueprint.

In an interview with reporters, National Power Corporation president Froilan A. Tampinco noted that both Kansai Electric Power Company and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) advanced words that they can share knowledge that will eventually help build up the country’s core competence in nuclear power operations.

The retained NPC chief also vouched on the willingness of Korean and French firms to aid in the feasibility study sphere on the propounded nuclear program for the Philippines. Tampinco both mentioned Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and Electricite de France (EDF) as among the parties willing to extend technical assistance in these areas.

He qualified that the commitment at this point is more on pre-development stages of a nuclear program; and is not necessarily on infrastructure investments yet.

He qualified though that Westinghouse Electric Japan of the Toshiba Group may still have interest in reviving the idled Bataan nuclear power facility, since Westinghouse before it was sold to the Japanese firm was originally the reactor supplier for the facility.

Had the country opted not to shelve the 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Project (BNPP) in the 1980s, the Philippines should have already been ahead in that path. However, because of the decommissioning move on the BNPP, it is now lagging behind, even against Asian neighbors in the ‘‘nuclear renaissance’’ loop.

Around Asia, Japan is considerably one of the power markets with heavy leaning on nuclear in meeting its energy needs. Its operation of such type of facilities also went through some upheavals, especially in TEPCO’s case wherein its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility in Niigata prefecture underwent shutdown in recent years to evaluate if these incurred damages from an earthquake incident.

Until now, the government or the Aquino administration for that matter is still ambivalent as to calls on repowering the mothballed BNPP facility is concerned, especially with lingering concerns that its site might be lying along an earthquake fault line.

Even with revived interest on nuclear, the country is being cautioned that there is really no short cut when it comes to nuclear power development and that project implementation take longer lead times compared to other technologies.

Absent yet a firm outcome from a study, the first dilemma the government has to resolve is on which sector should take the investing initiative – if it would still be possible for the State to build a nuclear plant or to leave the capital infusion option to the private sector players.

But while the country’s proposed foray into new round of nuclear investments is still two regimes away, the Aquino administration is being advised to start planning now and already kick off building up skills into nuclear operations.