The World Nuclear Supply Chain Conference will be held in the Philippines this May. This is the second gathering organized by the World Nuclear Association that aims to strengthen the global supply for nuclear projects. In November 2025, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the Philippines is now open to the construction of nuclear plants. The DOE plans to build the first operational plant by 2032 with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts (MW), which it claims will expand to 4,800 MW by 2050.

Meralco announced on January 5 that it will conduct a US Trade and Development Agency (USAID)-funded study on using a small modular reactor (SMR). It claims this aims to assess the country’s capacity for nuclear energy.

In 2024, Pangasinan second district representative and Congress special committee on nuclear energy head Mark Cojuangco proposed the construction of a ₱255 billion 1,000 MW nuclear plant in Labrador, Pangasinan. The congressman boasts that this would help lower electricity rates in the province.

People’s opposition

Even now, Pangasinenses, church people, and environmental advocates actively oppose the planned nuclear plant in Labrador. They are certain this will damage the livelihood, environment, and health of the people and future generations. Up to 33 Catholic Church leaders have expressed opposition. They held a mass and protest on January 4 in Labrador town, led by the Diocese of Alaminos. According to the Pangasinan People’s Strike for the Environment (PPSE), the plant is not a solution to the power crisis. It will instead further increase electricity rates producing huge profits for big business.

As with the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant and hundreds of other major infrastructure projects, this will surely be a bureaucrat-capitalists’ source of massive kickbacks and will have substandard quality construction. The government has no safe way to dispose radioactive waste. The proposed site is also vulnerable to typhoons and earthquakes that could cause disasters. Worse, while the people will suffer the plant’s effects, the nation will pay debts for decades to build facilities that only foreign and local comprador bourgeoisie and bureaucrat-capitalists will profit from.

Push of US Imperialism

The push to open the Philippines to nuclear plants is being driven by US imperialism to turn the country into a market for its companies. In November 2022, the Philippines signed the US-Philippines 123 Agreement for Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation, which ensures US supervision over Philippine nuclear energy “development.”

The US claims that expanding nuclear energy production is part of its “national security” policy. According to the US Department of Energy Information Administration in 2018, global electricity use is projected to rise by 50% by 2050 with economic growth, broader energy access, and population increase. As a result, nuclear energy production must triple to meet demand.

The US expects to earn over $1 trillion by 2050 from exporting nuclear technologies such as SMRs. It also seeks to outpace China and Russia in nuclear energy production. Over the past five years, 80% of nuclear projects have been from China, while Russia controls more than 40% production capacity of global uranium, the fuel used in nuclear plants.

Giant corporations are also pushing for SMR construction to meet the growing power demand of Artificial Intelligence Data Centers. Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft began investing in SMR projects for their operations in 2024.

SMR is a relatively new class of nuclear plants. It is touted as safe, cheaper, and easily mass-produced, despite having no single proof of commercial operation yet. In fact, several attempts to deploy SMRs for commercial electricity production were aborted because of enormous construction costs.

Contrary to claims that nuclear energy is “sustainable” and “better” for the environment than oil, it produces radioactive waste that harms human health (proven carcinogenic). From uranium mining to nuclear plant waste disposal, it pollutes soil, rivers, and seas. Storing and disposing of waste that remains radioactive for thousands of years is also a persistent problem.