Korea is world's sixth-largest nuclear-powered country

By Jhoo Dong-chan

Korea is the world’s sixth-largest nuclear-powered country in power plant capacity among International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) member countries amid rising concerns over its safety after a series of earthquakes struck the nation’s southeast.

According to a report released by the IAEA, Thursday, the capacity of the nation’s nuclear power plants totals 21,733 megawatts, the sixth largest among the IAEA member states as of end of last year.

The United States topped the list with 99,185 megawatts, followed by France with 63,130 megawatts and Japan with 40,290 megawatts. China’s capacity was 26,774 megawatts while Russia marked 25,443 megawatts in nuclear power plants last year.

Of the IAEA member states, Korea has built the second most nuclear power plants for the last 30 years after the Czech Republic.

The capacity of Korea’s nuclear power plants was 3,692 megawatts in 1985, but has increased by 489 percent for the last 30 years to reach 21,733 megawatts last year.

The Czech Republic had a capacity of 391 megawatts in 1985, and reached 3,930 megawatts last year, up by 905 percent in the same period.

Such increases in nuclear power dependency contrasts with those of developed countries in the West.

Italy, which had a capacity of 1,273 megawatts in 1985, has completely got rid of their nuclear power plants while Germany reduced the capacity by 40 percent to 10,799 megawatts in the period.

The U.K. capacity of nuclear power plants was also reduced from 10,077 megawatts to 8,918 megawatts, down by 12 percent. Holland’s capacity of nuclear power plants was down by 5 percent during the same period.

Korea’s dependency on nuclear power was also reportedly higher than the OECD average.

According to an OECD report, the nation’s dependency on nuclear power amounts to 30 percent of its use, higher than the OECD average of 19 percent.

The report also said the dependency would even reach 39 percent by 2025.