Korea’s new govt. aims to export 10 nuclear power plants

South Korea’s incoming administration seeks to export 10 nuclear power plants by 2030 as President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol pledged to rescind the current government policy of phasing out nuclear energy.

The transition committee for Yoon, who takes office on May 10, also unveiled on Tuesday tasks such as securing an “overwhelming lead” in future strategic industries such as the semiconductor, battery and artificial intelligence sectors.

The new government plans to resume construction of two nuclear power plants, the building of which was suspended in December 2021, and extend the service life of eight more nuclear power plants than originally scheduled as measures of establishing a nuclear ecosystem, according to the transition team. The incoming administration will also strengthen the alliance on nuclear power plant technology with the US to raise the use of nuclear power plants that were reduced during the outgoing Moon Jae-in administration.

“The new government will actively utilize nuclear power plants for energy security and carbon neutrality,” a transition team source said.

MORE COOPERATION WITH THE US

To raise exports of nuclear power plants, the new administration will launch a body consisting of the government ministries, Korea Electric Power Corp., Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., financial firms and nuclear power plant companies, etc., as soon as Yoon takes office. The body will seek a strategy for package exports of nuclear power plants, defense and others.

The new government plans to enhance cooperation on small modular reactors (SMRs) and pyro-processing sectors with the US.

It will develop its own SMR model to secure the next-generation nuclear power plant technologies and increase investment in research and development for future nuclear power plant technologies such as the fourth-generation nuclear reactors, nuclear fusion and hydrogen production related to the power plants.

FUTURE STRATEGIC INDUSTRIES

The transition team announced a plan to foster the semiconductor, battery and AI sectors as future strategic industries.

The new government plans provide “bold” incentives including tax cuts to investments in semiconductor production facilities and simplifying approval processes. Details on the incentives will be finalized later.

Such measures are expected to help increase semiconductor exports by more than 30% to $170 billion by 2027 from $128 billion last year, the transition committee forecast.

Write to Ji-Hoon Lee at lizi@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.