South Korea plans to expand nuclear power usage

South Korea is planning to expand its nuclear power capabilities in an effort achieve its ambitious climate targets.

In a statement released on Thursday, the South Korean government said that it would be increasing its levels of nuclear power. Currently, the country gets 30% of its electricity from nuclear, while the rest comes from coal and natural gas.

For comparison, in 2020 16% of UK electricity came from nuclear. In France, one of the world’s biggest producers of nuclear energy, as much as 70% of its electricity is derived from nuclear power.

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South Korea’s new president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was elected on May 10, ran a campaign that emphasised the potential of nuclear as a way to achieve net-zero by 2050, along with other renewable resources. Other South Korean climate goals include cutting emissions by 40% from 2018 levels over the next eight years.

This new declaration marks a major policy shift: South Korea’s previous president, Moon Jae-in, had been pursuing a programme of nuclear phase-out. Construction of the Shin Hanul No. 3 and 4 reactors, which was abandoned as part of the nuclear wind-down, will now be relaunched.

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South Korea said it would also be reviewing its carbon emissions trading system, a cap-and-trade program that launched in 2015, as part of implementing the new measures. The government said that it would be sharing a more detailed plan about the changes at a later date, once meetings had been held with specialists and industry leaders.

Earlier this month Yoon Suk Yeol also set out plans to build two new reactors in South Korea, as well as saying that he planned to make sure that the working lives of 18 existing nuclear power stations will be extended far after their scheduled 2030 close.

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