Completed but never fueled, it is located on a 3.57 km2 (1.38 sq mi) government reservation at Napot Point in Barangay Nagbalayong, Morong, Bataan.

[8] In July 1973, under a regime of martial law, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos announced the decision to build a nuclear power plant.

The project was plagued with problems during construction, including the location, welding, cabling, pipes and valves, permits, and kickbacks, and setbacks such as the decline of Marcos's influence and the incident at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor.

[15] In 2021, the Supreme Court of the Philippines ordered Disini, through his estate, to pay back the government over PHP1 billion in damages, affirming a 2012 Sandiganbayan decision.

[16][17] In August 2023, the Supreme Court of the Philippines reduced from P1 billion to P100 million the temperate damages that Herminio T. Disini estate must pay for brokering the 1974 deal behind the now mothballed $2.3-billion Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

[9][10] In November 1979, President Ferdinand Marcos stated via a decree that the continuation of the construction was not possible due, to potential hazards to the health and safety of the public.

Days after the April 1986 Chernobyl disaster in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the succeeding administration of President Corazon Aquino decided not to operate the plant.

Second, the IAEA mission advised the Philippine government on the general requirements for starting its nuclear power program, stressing that the proper infrastructure, safety standards, and knowledge be implemented.

[6][33] In February 2010, NOEKOR started evaluating the financial plan of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), assessing that it may cost US$1 billion to rehabilitate the nuclear plant.

[37] In 2012, the Sandiganbayan graft court ordered entrepreneur and Marcos crony Herminio Disini to repay the Philippine government the amount of $50 million for his role in defrauding the country through the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

[1] However, officials from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology had declared the site of the plant is safe noting the facility's solid foundation and the dormancy of the nearby volcano Mount Natib.

[43] In late 2017, representatives from Russia's Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation and Slovenia's GEN Energija went to assess the plant and make recommendations for its rehabilitation.

[5][46] In contrast, Rosatom's vice president for Southeast Asia, Egor Simonov, stated that it would be possible to revive the plant, noting its "relatively good condition" despite decades of disuse.

[47] Amid the 2021–2023 global energy crisis, President Bongbong Marcos, in his 2022 State of the Nation address, expressed his wish for the Philippines to revive research into nuclear power.

[49] Marcos allies and staunch supporters of the BNPP, including Representative Mark Cojuangco welcomed the news, noting that they were also open to seeking assistance from China and South Korea.

[50] However, energy analysts including Bert Dalusung and Gerry Arances[48] said the nuclear power plant might be less important for government funding priorities than building out a system of distributed renewables, pointing to their emerging cheapness.