ULSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) A state commission recommended resuming the construction of two reactors Friday after months of heated debates about whether it's the right time to begin weaning South Korea off nuclear energy.

The commission reached the decision based on a survey of 471 people selected as a jury on whether to abandon or continue the Shin Kori-5 and Shin Kori-6 reactors that have been under construction in the southeastern city of Ulsan since last year.

The panel said 59.5 percent of the jury supported the resumption of the project while 40.5 percent backed its abandonment. The gap was larger than expected, well exceeding the survey's margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

"In all age brackets, the proportion of those on the resumption side grew as more surveys were conducted," Kim Ji-hyung, head of the commission, said in a televised announcement. "The commission recommends to the government the policy of resuming the construction of Shin Kori No. 5 and No. 6."

The survey also found that 53.2 percent support scaling back nuclear power generation while 35.5 percent supported maintaining the current situation. Only 9.7 percent called for expansion of nuclear power generation, Kim said.

"Therefore, the commission recommends that the government make energy policy decisions in a direction of scaling down nuclear power generation," Kim said.

Scrapping the project was one of President Moon Jae-in's campaign promises. After taking office, however, he decided to determine the reactors' fate according to public opinion and ordered the establishment of the independent commission charged with collecting public views and making a recommendation.

Construction is expected to resume next week as the government said it will accept whatever recommendation the commission makes. The government is expected to endorse the recommendation in a Cabinet meeting set for Tuesday.

The reactors were about 30 percent complete before their construction was suspended in July. About 1.6 trillion won (US$1.4 billion) had already been spent on the project.

The proposal to abandon the reactors sparked heated debate in a country that relies on nuclear power plants for about a third of its electricity. Proponents say the country should phase out nuclear power for safety and environmental reasons, but opponents say it will lead to a shortage in the power supply and a spike in electricity bills.

Moon believes South Korea should lessen its dependence on nuclear power and increase the use of renewable energy. But he has stressed that the government will gradually close reactors one by one when their lifespan is up, rather than rushing to shut them down early.

He said it could take up to 60 years for South Korea to completely phase out nuclear power.

The public appears to have been evenly divided.

Four Gallup surveys have shown that percentages of those supporting and opposing the reactor project are of only a few percentage points apart or even within the margins of error. This week's survey by Realmeter also showed only a 0.6 percentage point difference, with 43.8 percent in favor of halting the project while 43.2 percent support resuming the construction.

Calls for scrapping the reactor project gained traction after a powerful 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit the country's southeastern city of Gyeongju in September last year. It was the most powerful quake ever recorded in South Korea.

The quake sparked safety concerns about the reactors being built just dozens of miles away amid a new discovery that the region lies on an active fault prone to quakes. Anti-nuclear activists have called for scrapping the project arguing that the country could face a disaster similar to that of Japan's Fukushima nuclear accident caused by a powerful earthquake.

The region is already home to six nuclear reactors, with two more set to go into operation starting next year. The Shin Kori-5 and Shin Kori-6 reactors would bring the total number in the region to 10.



jschang@yna.co.kr

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