MANILA - Atomic energy experts from Russia and Slovenia are now in the Philippines to study the viability of reviving the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), the Department of Energy (DOE) said Wednesday.

Representatives of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, Russia's nuclear power regulatory body, and Slovenia's Gen Energija, are in the country "to make a preliminary assessment of the possibility and viability of rehabilitating the plant", the DOE said in a statement.

According to the DOE, the study is being provided for free by ROSATOM as part of Russian-Philippine cooperation.

The experts will begin studying the mothballed BNPP in September and are expected to finish their assessment within two months.



The 620-megawatt (MW) BNPP never went into operation and was mothballed after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 stoked fears about the dangers of nuclear power plants.

The government has been eyeing the possibility of adding nuclear power to the country's energy mix.

Last March, the DOE identified Sulu as among the areas being eyed for a modular nuclear power plant, with a capacity of 100MW at most.