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This year, nuclear power has generated more electricity in South Korea than either coal or natural gas for the first time ever, achieving a milestone in one of the world’s top importers of fossil fuels.
Nuclear power accounted for 32% of South Korea’s electricity generation mix in the first half of 2024, ahead of coal and natural gas, each with a 28% share, according to data by energy think tank Ember cited by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire.
The advance of nuclear power generation at the expense of fossil fuels marks a momentous milestone in South Korea, which is the world’s third-largest importer of LNG behind China and Japan and the fourth-biggest importer of thermal coal.
South Korea has bet on more nuclear power in recent years, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the scrapping of a previous nuclear phase-out plan in 2022.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol, elected in March 2022, scrapped his predecessor’s policy to phase out nuclear energy over some 45 years. The new president has set a target for nuclear power to provide at least 30% of the country’s electricity in 2030.
Currently, a total of 26 reactors provide about one-third of South Korea’s electricity from 26 GWe of plants.
The country plans to boost its nuclear power generation further.
Last week, South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) granted a construction permit to Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) to build two new nuclear reactors, Shin-Hanul 3 and 4 reactors, in Uljin, southeast of Seoul.
“The construction approval is in line with the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s energy policy, which reverses the previous government’s nuclear phase-out policy,” Yonhap news agency quoted Sung Tae-yoon, the presidential chief of staff for policy, as saying.
“It paved the way for restoring the nuclear energy ecosystem, which was on the verge of collapse, and help the nuclear industry regain a momentum.”
Indeed, nuclear energy has regained momentum in South Korea, helping to lower emissions and the reliance on LNG and coal imports.
In recent years, solar and nuclear generation has helped drive a decline in power sector emissions in the country, Ember says.
“South Korea’s power sector emissions grew in the last two decades as increasing demand for electricity was met predominantly by coal and gas, but emissions reached their peak in 2018 as solar and nuclear power increased and replaced coal,” Ember’s analysts note.
South Korea remains dependent on coal and gas for nearly half of its power generation. Still, the fact that nuclear has now become the single largest source of electricity suggests that South Korea, like other Western countries, is pivoting back to nuclear power to guarantee energy security amid heightened geopolitical tensions.
Moreover, unlike many other countries, South Korean firms have the expertise to build nuclear reactors and are winning contracts abroad.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many allies of the U.S. and the EU—with the notable exception of Germany—have stepped up efforts to bolster energy security and depend less on energy commodities. Many of those have chosen to rely more on nuclear energy, which would also help them cut emissions and move closer to their net-zero goals.
At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai at the end of last year, the United States and 21 other countries pledged to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050, saying incorporating more nuclear power in their energy mix is critical for achieving their net zero goals in the coming decades.
The United States, alongside Britain, France, Canada, Sweden, South Korea, Ghana, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), among others, signed the declaration at the COP28 climate summit.
Despite being an industry notoriously known for years of delays and huge cost overruns, a global nuclear power renaissance is underway.
The comeback of nuclear energy is expected to drive a record-high electricity generation from nuclear in 2025, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said early this year.
By next year, global nuclear generation is forecast to exceed its previous record set in 2021, the IEA said in its Electricity 2024 report.
Even as some countries phase out nuclear power or retire plants early, global nuclear generation is expected to rise by nearly 3% per year on average through 2026, according to the IEA. The key growth drivers will be the completion of maintenance works in France, restart of some nuclear power plants in Japan, and new reactors coming online in China, India, South Korea, and Europe, among others.
