The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic shocked the world in the first quarter of 2020 with no clear end in sight. Severe impact on the economy globally as well as in ASEAN was inevitable. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the ASEAN region is projected to decline by 2.7 percent in 2020, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Nuclear energy might be coming to the Philippines soon after an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts concluded an eight-day mission in December to review the country's infrastructure development for nuclear power.The Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) was conducted at the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant after an invitation by the Philippines government.
In the past decade Asia has emerged as a booming market for nuclear energy. According to the World Nuclear Association, over half of the world’s nuclear plants under construction are in Asia. Most of them however are in China as they account for nearly 40 percent while the rest of Asia makes up 60 percent of nuclear plants under construction.
At the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, world leaders at last seemed to recognize the reality of climate change. But the response they are pursuing is fundamentally flawed, given its dependence on “renewable energy sources” – such as solar, hydro, and wind power, as well as biofuels – that actually damage nature.
Southeast Asia might finally see nuclear energy for the first time ever. Recently, Russia has been urging Manila to consider the use of nuclear energy.
