BANGKOK, October 16. /TASS/. Member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are counting on Russia to lend its expertise in constructing nuclear power plants (NPP) to help them realize their own long-term energy goals, Nadhilah Shani, the Senior Research Analyst with the ASEAN Center for Energy, told TASS on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Energy Week.

Indonesia and the Philippines are considering building nuclear power plants as part of their long-term energy plans, the expert said. "I feel that Russia could support this plan because of its expertise in building nuclear power plants, especially for the new technology like small modular reactor," Shani noted.

"We have so much islands in Indonesia with not very big demand on some of the islands so the technology like SMR is that we could consider," she said.

Plans to build NPP’s in Southeast Asian Nations stem from a desire to diversify the energy mix and preserve energy security, the expert noted.