Excerpt and Photo from dialogue.earth
When Ami Nicodemus finishes her master’s degree in energy systems at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, she will return to the Philippines with expertise that her country’s energy sector largely lacks – the technical foundations of nuclear power plant design and safety.
The electrical engineer is part of a new generation of Filipinos being trained overseas in preparation for the possible return of atomic power to the country. For her, nuclear energy could help provide “reliable power while supporting the transition toward cleaner energy sources”. She had previously spent six years working in distribution operations at the Philippines’ largest electricity company, Meralco.
The revisiting of nuclear energy comes amid rising electricity demand and pressure to cut emissions from a grid still dominated by imported coal and oil. Nearly all of the Philippines’ crude oil is imported, leaving it exposed to energy shocks such as the war in Southwest Asia, a region from which the country imports 97% of that oil, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. This has driven up costs and prompted a national emergency declaration.
In 2025, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed a law creating the Philippine Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority, tasked with ensuring the safe and secure use of nuclear power. With this regulatory agency in place, the government is aiming to bring its first nuclear power plant online by 2032.
But building or reviving reactor projects is only part of the challenge. The Philippines must first develop a workforce with the expertise to design, regulate and operate nuclear facilities – skills that have largely disappeared since the country abandoned its nuclear program in the 1980s.