 |
Yeongdeok in North Gyeongsang Province and Samcheok in Gangwon Province were chosen as candidate locations for new nuclear power plants.
Despite the devastation of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, the government is accelerating the plan.
The Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Corp., the state-run enterprise, announced the candidate locations Friday. Uljin in North Gyeongsang Province had also applied to be a candidate, but wasn’t selected.
It announced that Yeongdeok and Samcheok were chosen based on criteria such as location and the degree of acceptance by residents.
It will make the final decision by the end of next year, after evaluating environmental factors and holding discussions with related ministries. Each power plant will accommodate up to four reactors with a capacity of 1.4 million kilowatts, and construction will be completed by 2024.
The state-run company had planned to announce the candidate locations in the second quarter of this year, but the plan was delayed following the leak at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan in March. The disaster raised voices opposing the construction of more nuclear power plants here.
However, the government determined that building nuclear power plants is the only option to solve the shortage of electricity.
According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the country plans to raise the ratio of nuclear power in the country’s power generation to 59 percent by 2040. Currently, nuclear power plants are operating in Gori in Busan, Uljin and Weolseong in North Gyeongsang Province and Yeonggwang in South Jeolla Province, whose power generation accounts for about 34 percent of the total.
However, tough challenges lie ahead as there is still strong opposition against nuclear power plants.
Choi Moon-soon, governor of Gangwon Province, announced that as a governor who should protect life and the safety of residents, he can’t accept the expansion of nuclear power plants without a national consensus and a better understanding of their safety. According to an October survey on residents of Samcheok, less than 50 percent supported building the power plant there, while three out of four approved of the plan in March, before the leakage in Japan. Moreover, the committee responsible for selecting the candidate location said that it didn’t take into account the tsunami factor. Some residents are fiercely opposing the plan, threatening to recall the Samcheok mayor.
“Despite the two nuclear tragedies in Chernobyl and Fukushima over the past 30 years, the government is turning the clock backward. We will embark on nullifying the plan,” said the Korea Federation for Environmental Movement in a statement.
