Plans are underway to convert the Philippines’ only nuclear power plant into a data center.
First reported by 1bataan, Bataan 2nd District Representative Abet Garcia is working to convert the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant [BNPP] into a data center campus. “In our meeting with representatives of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on September 2, we presented the planned structure and project for the conversion of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) into a data nuclear power plant,” García said on Facebook this week.
“We hope that this step will be the path to the successful implementation of the project, which should bring significant benefits to the technology and communications sector in the country.”
Construction of the plant began in 1976. The 621 MW plant was completed in the mid-1980s despite delays and mounting costs (it was long the country’s largest source of foreign debt), but was never powered up or activated.
Despite having been idle for decades, some within the country would like to explore the possibility of activating the plant. Negros Oriental Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. recently filed a bill (House Bill No. 2921 or the Philippine Nuclear Act of 2022) that calls on the government to explore the feasibility of using the power plant to meet the country’s energy needs.
The Philippine Department of Energy first proposed converting the facility into a data center in 2017, amid calls to restart the plant, but the suggestion was not met with traction. Garcia is campaigning to use the site for data centers by at least 2022.
