By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
Who benefits from the climate change debate underway worldwide? Apparently it's the nuclear energy industry - at least in Korea.
The Korean government's pursuit of nuclear energy as an alternative to greenhouse gas emitting power plants was strongly felt at the EU-Korea seminar on priorities for a post-2012 agreement last week.
Chung Rae-kwon, a Korean diplomat with expertise in climate change said that Korea is pursuing nuclear energy as an alternative source of energy that would emit insignificant amounts of greenhouse gas.
Compared to other major power plants that burn the fossil fuels coal, natural gas and petroleum, the rate of CO2 emissions from a nuclear power plant is significantly low.
In Korea, 20 nuclear power plants are in operation, and according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, eight new plants are to be opened in the coming years.
What makes Korea's nuclear pursuit so open and firm, observers say, is that the populace is not against the idea.
Additionally, a recent nuclear construction deal with the UAE is laying the ground for favorable public opinion.
Paolo Caridi, policy officer for the environment at the European Commission said, "Nuclear energy is not renewable and it is therefore not a final solution," addressing the problems related to the management of nuclear waste.
His comment does not represent the EU's official position.
Within the EU, nuclear policy is an autonomous issue left to each member states' domestic decision.
A country like France is one of the leading advocates of nuclear energy, using it for nearly 75 percent of its electricity.
Italy is one of the countries, which used to ban nuclear power plants, but is reversing its stance to allow building due to energy shortages.
Austria and Denmark are still skeptical about nuclear energy.
One European diplomat familiar with the matter said public opinion against nuclear energy used to be so bad in Europe because of Chernobyl, but it is now changing.
For Korea, decisions on nuclear energy and fuel cycle policy, in particular, have never been independently made as Korea signed an Atomic Energy Agreement with the United States in the 1970s.
The accord, constraining raw material supply, banning uranium enrichment and reprocessing used fuel in Korea is set to expire in 2014.
The Korean government is believed to be seeking to ease the constraints to gain more freedom regarding nuclear policies.
Last week's forum was organized by the European Union to Korea, the British Embassy in Korea and Yonsei-SERI EU Center, an organization aiming at promoting EU affairs in Korea.
Speakers had an underlying agreement on how the Copenhagen meeting last December fell short on expectations, and said the next round of conferences this year in Cancun, Mexico should bring about substantial fruits.
Korean climate change ambassador Chung assured the EU listeners that the Korean government is moving forward with its own emissions target goal - a 30-percent cut from the amount of greenhouse gas expected to be emitted by 2020 - regardless of the result of the climate change conference.