According to Yonhap News,
President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged Thursday to boost the nuclear power industry by providing 3.3 trillion won (US$2.48 billion) worth of projects and 1 trillion won worth of special financing.
Yoon was speaking at the 14th government-public debate on people's livelihood issues, this time in Changwon, 298 kilometers southeast of Seoul, which focused on policies for the nuclear energy sector.
"The government will provide full-scale support to make this year the starting point for a new leap for the nuclear power industry, beyond its normalization," he said during the debate held at the office of the South Gyeongsang Province government.
Restoring the nuclear power industry was one of Yoon's campaign pledges as he vowed to reverse the nuclear phase-out policy of the previous Moon Jae-in administration.
Yoon vowed to support corporate investment in the nuclear industry by providing tax breaks for facility investments, and research and development (R&D).
He also said the government will invest more than 4 trillion won in nuclear power sector R&D over the administration's five-year term, legislate a special bill supporting the nuclear power industry and establish a long-term nuclear power road map aimed at achieving carbon neutrality.
In policy measures targeting the local region, Yoon promised to transform the 50-year-old industrial complex in Changwon into a cultural-industrial space enjoyed by young generations by lifting various regulations restricting its use and the type of businesses allowed to operate there.
He said the government will lift greenbelt zones, which are restricted from development for environmental preservation purposes, in Changwon to allow more than 20 trillion won worth of investment in local strategic industries and the construction of a national industrial complex for defense and nuclear power.
In the nearby city of Geoje, he said he will mobilize all possible policy measures to create an industrial complex featuring culture and art, information and communications technology, and bio and medicine, while also investing 3 trillion won over 10 years to develop tourism in the southern belt connecting South Gyeongsang Province to Busan, Ulsan and the western Jeolla provinces.
hague@yna.co.kr
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Source: Yonhap News (February 22, 2024)