The nation will reduce its dependence on coal-fired power plants in return for raising the ratio of nuclear power and new and renewable energy resources between 2015 and 2019. These strategies are contained in the 7th master plan for long-term power supply and demand which the government announced on June 8.
Despite public opposition against the construction of new nuclear power plants, the government’s decision to ramp up the ratio of the nation’s dependence on nuclear power and new and renewable energy resources is an effort to kill two birds with one stone — cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions caused by coal-fired power units and ensuring a stable supply of power. The issue of constructing additional nuclear power units has become somewhat controversial since the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011. In this regard, the government omitted additional nuclear power units in 2013 when it announced the 6th master plan for long-term power supply and demand. But the latest plan calls for another 7 trillion won to build two new nuclear power units. The additional power units will bring to 13 the number of nuclear power units the nation is now building or has decided to do so by 2029, when the latest master plan ends. Currently, 23 nuclear power units are in operation.
A major point of the latest master plan is about the government’s initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for global warming. Major countries, including Korea, have agreed to propose national post-2020 emission reduction targets and action plans to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change before the United Nations climate change conference slated for December in Paris.
South Korea plans to build two new nuclear reactors in an effort to revive its nuclear power footing on energy, the government announced Monday. The Park Geun-hye government is considering a greenhouse gas emission reduction plan better than the 30 percent made by the previous government.
“The latest master plan for long-term power supply and demand demonstrates a new industrial landscape map as a premise of so-called POST 2020,” said Dr. Lee Ji-won of LG Economic Research Institute.
Taking a look at the energy mix of sources between 2014 and 2029, the latest government plan calls for a reduction of the coal-fired power generation from 28.2 percent of all power produced in Korea in 2014 to 26.7 percent in 2029, while raising nuclear power from 22.2 percent to 23.7 percent. Under the plan, the ratio of LNG will decrease from 28.7 percent to 20.5 percent, while the ratio of new and renewable energy sources will rise from 6.7 percent to 20 percent. In order to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, the government has scrapped plans to construct Yeongheung Thermal Power Units 7 & 8 and Dongbu Haslla Power Units 1 & 2. In return, the government has decided to build two more nuclear power units on top of the ones the nation has in the works.
“Increasing greenhouse has-neutral power is in keeping with the global energy industry trends,” said Director General for Energy Indsutry Policy Chae Hee-bong of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
Constructing additional nuclear power units is expected to be a daunting task that the government will have to tackle. The candidate sites of the two new nuclear power complexes are mentioned as Samcheok, Gangwon-do, and Yeongdeok, Gyeongsang-buk-do.
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