Reliance on nuclear power clouds southwestern chip cluster plan

The Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant in Yeonggwang County, South Jeolla Province / Courtesy of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power

The government's plan to build a massive semiconductor cluster in southwestern Korea to house chip plants for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix is facing growing questions over whether sufficient power can be secured.

The Lee Jae Myung government is increasingly moving away from its initial policy stance of maintaining the status quo on nuclear power, acknowledging that renewable energy alone cannot meet the project's electricity needs and arguing that additional nuclear power plants are needed.

The challenge is that building nuclear power plants is as complicated and time-consuming as constructing semiconductor fabs. New reactors must clear environmental assessments and address potential opposition from local residents near transmission grids and other facilities, making it uncertain whether additional power generation is possible before the current memory chip upcycle fades or before Lee's term ends.

According to government officials, the government is considering building four additional nuclear reactors. Earlier this month, Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment Kim Sung-hwan said the the Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province, and the Saeul Nuclear Power Plant in Ulju County, Ulsan could both accommodate two additional reactors.

“Semiconductor plants require a stable, around-the-clock electricity supply, and it will be difficult to meet that demand only through increasing renewable energy,” Kim said. “We need to quickly review whether additional nuclear power plants should be built.”

Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment Kim Sung-hwan speaks in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, July 2. Courtesy of Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment

Accordingly, the government is expected to update the national electricity supply plan in the second half of this year to reflect the proposed reactor additions.

The government assumes the current plan of housing four semiconductor fabs — two each by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — will require 6.3 gigawatts of electricity.

As the fabs are planned for the site of a former military air base in Gwangju, the nearest major source of power is the Hanbit plant, which has a total generating capacity of 6 gigawatts. Reactor Unit 1 is currently under maintenance, and the remainder were generating a combined 5.16 gigawatts as of Tuesday.

After accounting for existing demand, the climate ministry estimates the region has 3 to 5 gigawatts of surplus generating capacity. Given that a conventional large nuclear reactor has a generating capacity of about 1.4 gigawatts, roughly two additional reactors would be needed to cover the projected shortfall.

Building a nuclear reactor typically takes about 15 years, but Kim said the timeline could be shortened to around seven years if suitable sites are secured.

Residents of Danjang, a township in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, stage a sit-in as police set up to dismantle the protest against the government's plan for a transmission tower in this Oct. 1, 2013 photo. Korea Times file

However, industry officials said a bigger challenge could be local opposition to expanding the power transmission grid and spent nuclear fuel storage facilities.

In 2001, Korea Electric Power Corp. selected Miryang as the site for transmission lines carrying electricity from the Shin Kori Nuclear Power Plant in Busan to Daegu and the greater North Gyeongsang region. Beginning in 2005, residents demanded that the project be scrapped, citing concerns over property rights, as well as the potential health effects of noise and electromagnetic waves from transmission towers planned for nearby farmland.

Two residents died by suicide during the protests, and more than 20 people were injured in 2014 when authorities dismantled a sit-in protest.

"The Miryang case is just one example,” an industry official said. “Local opposition has also continued over plans to bring power from neighboring regions to the separate semiconductor cluster currently under construction in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province."

The Hanbit plant also faces limits in expanding its spent nuclear fuel storage facilities. As of March, its spent nuclear fuel storage pools were more than 85 percent full, with Units 3 and 4 already exceeding 90 percent. At the current pace, they are expected to reach capacity by 2030.

Members of the Gwangju-South Jeolla Coalition for Nuclear-Free World protest the government's proposal to build new reactors at the Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant in South Jeolla Province during a rally in Gwangju, Monday. Courtesy of Gwangju-South Jeolla Coalition for Nuclear-Free World

Although Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power began designing a new interim storage facility in 2023, the project faced delays due to local opposition, with the company only beginning a public consultation process late last month. If additional reactors are built at the site, the current interim storage plan would also need to be revised.

“Since Hanbit Unit 1 began operation in 1986, the people of Yeonggwang have never felt assured that the plant is safe,” said Noh Byung-nam, co-chair of the Gwangju-South Jeolla Coalition for a Nuclear-Free World.

“The government is even talking about building new reactors, and this is effectively a declaration that Yeonggwang will become a testing ground for nuclear power plants and a permanent nuclear waste site. … The electricity will be consumed by semiconductor plants and AI data centers, but why should we bear the risks?”

Even if additional reactors are built at the Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant, the electricity supply could eventually fall short as the semiconductor cluster expands and the region is set to host national-scale artificial intelligence data centers, which will also consume vast amounts of electricity.

A rendering of small modular reactor by NuScale Power, which canceled its pioneering Idaho SMR project in late 2023. Courtesy of NuScale Power

With the Lee administration racing to produce tangible progress before its term ends, political circles have increasingly floated alternatives such as small modular reactors (SMRs), which can be deployed more quickly than conventional reactors.

The Ministry of Finance and Economy said earlier this month that it would consider designating SMRs as a national strategic technology, which would provide projects with additional tax incentives. Ruling Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers have begun introducing bills calling for special industrial zone designations, tax incentives and direct electricity trading.

However, the technology has yet to be fully proven at a commercial scale, raising concerns over its viability.

The government recently selected Busan as the site for Korea's first SMR project, but only one SMR project worldwide — located in Russia — is currently in commercial operation, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Another in China set to begin commercial operation soon, while other projects are still under construction.

Securing fuel for SMRs is another challenge. Unlike conventional nuclear reactors, which use low-enriched uranium, SMRs require high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). Currently, Russia’s state-run Tenex and U.S.-based Centrus Energy are among the few suppliers capable of producing and supplying HALEU at a commercial scale, but Centrus has only recently entered the early stages of commercialization, leaving supply uncertain.

“SMRs are still viewed as the future technology which have to overcome hurdles, including economic feasibility and high-level radioactive waste management,” the official said. “It is difficult to see SMRs as a main option for quickly resolving power supply concerns within the current chip upcycle.”