President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) tours a nuclear reactor factory of Doosan Enerbility in Changwon, 301 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in this June 22, 2022, file photo. Yoon pledged to rebuild the nuclear power industry and support its expansion overseas, underscoring his commitment to reversing the nuclear phase-out policy of the previous administration. (Yonhap)
South Korea will resume the construction of the Shin Hanul No. 3 and 4 reactors in earnest this year after wrapping up disaster impact assessments and other due administrative work, the industry ministry said Tuesday.
The government has been working to resume building the two 1,400-megawatt nuclear power plants in the coastal county of Uljin, 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, which had been suspended since 2017 under the previous administration’s nuclear phase-out policy.
The industry ministry said it will begin next month to collect opinions from the residents on its environmental impact evaluation results regarding the project in a move to complete related procedures within the first half of this year.
It is awaiting the result of the interior ministry’s review of disaster impact evaluation plans, which is expected to be available next month.
The ministry will also push to win state approval for the project by September and will begin work on the plot of land this year before starting full construction next year.
The resumption decision was made as the Yoon Suk Yeol government has vowed to expand the country’s nuclear power generation to more than 30 percent of its total energy creation by 2030 in order to boost energy security and better meet carbon neutrality goals.
The comparable figure came to 27.4 percent in 2021.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
