MANILA - Meralco on Thursday said it has signed a deal to explore the use of small nuclear reactors, also called “nuclear batteries”, in the Philippines.

The company said it inked an agreement with Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), a US-based firm that builds “Micro-Modular Reactor” (MMR) Energy Systems, to study the potential deployment of one or more of these systems in the Philippines.

The deal was signed on the sidelines of the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Summit, and was witnessed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Meralco said.

The Meralco deal comes as the Philippines and the United States concluded talks on civil nuclear cooperation.

According to the USNC website, its MMR is the first "fission battery" to be commercialized, and demo units are set in 2026.

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In contrast to the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant can produce 620 megawatts of electricity, the USNC says each MMR or nuclear battery can generate between 3.5 to 15MW of electricity. But multiple units can be deployed to meet needs, USNC said.

“One or more MMR nuclear batteries combine their heat in the heat storage unit, from where electric power or superheated steam can be extracted through conventional means to meet a wide range of power requirements, from tens to hundreds of MW,” Meralco said.

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The Manuel Pangilinan-led power firm said the agreement paves the way for advanced nuclear technology to diversify the country’s energy sources and promote energy stability and security

Meralco said the agreement will examine environmental and social impact, technical and siting requirements, and commercial viability, and other considerations for deploying nuclear batteries.