Plans are being made to convert the Philippines' only nuclear power station into a data center.

First reported by 1bataan, Bataan 2nd District Representative Abet Garcia is working to convert the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant [BNPP] into a data center campus.

"In our meeting with the representatives of [the] Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) last September 2, we presented the planned structure and design for the conversion of Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) to a Data Center," Garcia said on Facebook this week.

"We expect that this step will be the pathway to successful implementation of the project, which is expected to bring significant benefits to the technology and communications sector in the country."

Construction began on the plant in 1976. The 621MW facility was completed in the mid-1980s despite delays and ballooning costs – it was long the country's largest source of foreign debt obligations – but was never fuelled or activated.

Despite laying dormant for decades, some within the country would like to explore activating the power station. Negros Oriental Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. recently filed a bill – House Bill No. 2921 or the Philippine Nuclear Act of 2022 – asking the government to explore the viability of using the power station to meet the country’s energy needs.

The Philippines’ Department of Energy first proposed turning the facility into a data center in 2017 again in the face of calls to revive the plant, but the suggestion did not gain traction.

Garcia has been campaigning to use the site for data centers since at least 2022.