US, Philippines Enter Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, Thailand Also Plans Installing Reactors

The agreement allows the transfer of nuclear equipment, material, and information from the US to the Philippines and will allow the country to retire its coal plants in favor of nuclear power.

MANILA - The United States and the Philippines have now officially entered into a new Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement which entered into force on July 2nd, 2024. The Agreement will “enhance our cooperation on clean energy and energy security and strengthen our long-term bilateral diplomatic and economic relationships”, according to the U.S. State Department. 

Mae Moh coal power plant in Lampang, Thailand

US, Philippines Sign Nuclear Cooperation Agreement

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The United States signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with the Philippines last year known as the "123 agreement", or the "Agreement for Cooperation Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy" at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco as the two countries continue to work toward modernizing their alliance, enhancing interoperability, and "addressing new and emerging challenges". 

The agreement allows the transfer of nuclear equipment, material, and information from the United States to the Philippines and will allow the country to retire its coal plants in favor of nuclear power. 

Thailand also has plans to start its own nuclear reactors within the next decade after having been discussing doing so since the early 2000s, but the discussions were shelved after Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant meltdown occurred in 2011.

Reactor types diagram. Source: IAEA

Both the Philippines and Thailand plan to use small modular reactors (SMRs) which are considered safer than conventional nuclear reactors but produce less power.

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