The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in Bagac is surrounded by wide roads and an elevated landscape to mitigate nuclear accidents. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

DAVAO CITY - President Rodrigo Duterte has rejected proposals to use nuclear energy to bring down power costs, saying nuclear power plants will "not operate during his presidency."

"We have not reached the danger zone wherein we will die if there is no available energy," the President said.

"Maybe someday, [but] not during my presidency," he added.

Duterte said the use of nuclear power must be studied carefully to avoid unfortunate accidents that may harm the public.

"Huwag muna ngayon kasi (Not now because) we have to come up with really tight safeguards to assure that there will be no disasters if there is a nuclear leak or explosion somewhere in the nuclear reactors that we will be building," he said.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi earlier said nuclear generation is one of the options for the Philippines to meet its growing power needs, with annual electricity demand expected to rise by an average 5 percent until 2030.

Energy officials and lawmakers visited the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) in September to assess if the 40-year-old mothballed plant can still be used or if the government should build a brand new nuke plant instead.

The late dictator Ferdinand Marcos ordered the plant built in 1976 in response to rising energy prices. It was finished in 1984.

However, the facility was never used after it was declared unsafe as it sits on a major earthquake fault line and lies near the Pinatubo volcano.