ED Reliance on atomic power

Higher plant utilization rate contradicts nuclear phaseout policy

Korea's nuclear power plant utilization rate has jumped by more than 33 percentage points compared to four years ago. According to Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power on Tuesday, the nation's utilization rate of atomic power stations stood at 89.4 percent last month, far higher than the 56.2 percent in January 2018. That shows how the Moon Jae-in administration's nuclear phaseout policy has increased the country's reliance on atomic energy instead of decreasing it.

According to Korea Electric Power Corp. statistics, the share of nuclear power in Korea's total electricity generation also rose to 29 percent last year from 25.8 percent in 2018. This increase resulted from the government's switch to advance the operations of overhauled nuclear power plants, due to rising fuel prices amid the global energy shock last summer. More fundamentally, however, it reveals the problems with the government's policy to replace nuclear power with renewable energies, such as solar and wind power.

The government has poured 24 trillion won ($20 billion) into expanding the generation capacity of solar and wind power plants. However, the shares of these renewables have not grown much, as they have failed to get over the limitation of intermittency. A case in point is the Saemangeum Photovoltaic Power Generation Complex along the southwestern coast, where solar panels have been covered with bird droppings. The trouble began when the government chose a habitat for migratory birds as an alternative site to hillside areas after learning that inclined terrain was prone to landslides. Some officials even made a “brilliant” proposal to fly hawk-shaped kites to chase away the migratory birds.

These solar power generation facilities occupy too much open land, a critical disadvantage to installing them in rural areas in a small, mountainous country like Korea. That may be one reason why Japan recently tightened regulations on solar stations, faced with various side effects, including rural deforestation and landslides. Whoever takes power after the March 9 election, the next government should break away from the nuclear phaseout policy. Of course, the nation needs to promote renewable energy. However, it should not adhere to a one-sided policy but pursue a more realistic energy mix by including nuclear power.