Several South Korean companies interested in reviving Bataan nuclear power plant, says DTI

By Othel V.

Campos

SEVERAL South Korean companies expressed interest in reviving the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, according to the Department of Trade and Industry.

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said there could be a possible cooperation between the Philippines’ BNPP and South Korea’s nuclear power plant operators.

“There are proposals to revive it, but I don’t think the government has made any pronouncement of any plan to revive it. There are talks about it,” he said.

Pascual said there were some “push factors” between the BNPP and some nuclear power plants in South Korea.

“From what I’ve heard, BNPP can still be revived, and there are also plans to replicate this,” he said.

South Korea derives about a third of its electricity from 25 small modular reactors or nuclear power reactors, making it one of the world’s most prominent nuclear energy countries. It exports some of the power and is building the UAE’s first nuclear power plant under a $20-billion contract.

The Philippine government is also eyeing cooperation agreements with Oregon-based NuScale Power Corp. and Canadian fission energy provider Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp.

NuScale is one of the US companies the Philippines engaged with during the visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the US this month.

Pascual said the Philippines is eyeing

DoubleDragon plans to build 10 US hotels by 2026

By Jenniffer B.

Austria

DOUBLEDRAGON Properties Corp. said it plans to build 10 hotels in the United States by 2026.

DoubleDragon said in a statement over the weekend Singapore-registered unit Hotel101 Global Pte. Ltd. was set to acquire its first US property by the third quarter of the year.

Hotel101 Global was one of the participants in the 2023 SelectUSA Investment Summit on May 1 to 4 in Washington D.C.

“We are delighted to be part of the Philippine delegation to the 2023 SelectUSA Investment Summit as the connections we have made this week have enabled us to significantly accelerate our process in selecting which of the ten states in the U.S. we should expand to first as well as giving us a direct line to the investment groups of the 50 US states,” said Hotel101 Global chief executive Hannah YuloLuccini.

a two-pronged approach in its partnership with NuScale that involves the installation of SMRs in certain areas and an opportunity for NuScale to set-up manufacturing operations in the Philippines.

Ultra Safe, on the other hand, is an expert in micro modular reactors, or nuclear plants smaller than SMRs. The Presidential Communications Office said USNC was looking at the Philippines as the first site of its nuclear energy facility in Southeast Asia.

DoubleDragon chairman Edgar Sia II said joining the Select USA Investment Summit gave the company confidence about growing its Hotel101 brand in the US.

“We are excited to have Hotel101 Global join the Philippine delegation to the 2023 SelectUSA Investment Summit. The company will play an important role in the very important business of expanding the US-Philippines commercial, investment, trade and economic relationship,” said Paul Taylor, the commercial