Nuclear power public consultation committee votes at first meeting to commission citizen-participation survey

Units 3 through 6 of the Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province [Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power]
Units 3 through 6 of the Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province [Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power]

Concerns are mounting that finalization of the 12th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand (2026–2040) will be delayed as a public consultation process gets underway to decide whether to include large nuclear power plant construction in the plan.

The government had planned to complete a draft of the 12th plan this month but has pushed back the announcement, saying it will first conduct a three-month public consultation on whether to build new nuclear power plants. The list of committee members involved in drawing up the plan has also not been made public.

The Nuclear Power Public Consultation Committee for the Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand said Thursday it held its first meeting Wednesday at the Seoul Biz Hub Center, where it deliberated on operating rules and a citizen-participation survey plan and discussed the direction of the public consultation process.

The committee decided not to interpret the consultation results as a simple for-or-against vote or by majority rule. Instead, it plans to compile the opinions and reasoning of citizen deliberation participants, along with areas of common ground and key points of contention. To enhance transparency, meeting minutes will in principle be made public after review by the committee.

The citizen deliberation panel will consist of about 300 people, selected through random sampling that takes into account region, gender and age. Participants will complete preparatory study through deliberation materials and online learning before taking part in a two-night, three-day deliberation session.

A separate expert subcommittee, composed of specialists from various fields with diverse views, will be formed to provide technical information for study materials and to conduct research and analysis of domestic and international cases, as well as fact-checking and source verification.

Rather than presupposing any particular conclusion or consensus, the committee aims to identify areas of broad acceptance, areas of conditional acceptance and issues that remain unresolved even after deliberation.

The energy industry, however, has expressed concern that there is no time to hold a debate on whether to build nuclear power plants and then incorporate the results into the electricity supply plan — not when the stable execution of three major mega-projects, including AI development, is at stake.

If demand from the three mega-projects announced by the government is factored in, the projected maximum electricity demand for 2040 rises to between 158.4 and 165.0 gigawatts — an increase of 26.6 to 26.8 gigawatts over previous estimates. That increase is equivalent to the combined capacity of 19 nuclear reactors.

In a second-quarter public energy awareness survey released last month by the Korea Energy Information and Culture Foundation, 82.9 percent of respondents said new nuclear power plant construction plans should be included in the basic electricity plan. Critics argue that this makes the public consultation process pointless.

Because large nuclear power plants take more than 15 years from site selection to completion, even starting construction this year would leave little margin to meet the 2040 deadline. Growing public sentiment holds that the right course for future generations is not a public consultation on nuclear construction, but moving swiftly to select sites and begin preparing to persuade and compensate local residents.

People Power Party lawmaker Kim So-hee, at Tuesday's national audit of the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, said: "We've already held seven forums that covered the role of nuclear power — will the public really accept suddenly announcing another three-month public consultation on nuclear energy? One can only conclude that the government is either watching out for anti-nuclear groups or dragging its feet because it dislikes nuclear power."

The national audit also saw a clash over whether to disclose the list of members involved in drafting the 12th plan. PPP lawmaker Lee Cheol-gyu demanded the list be submitted, saying it was the National Assembly's duty to verify who participates in setting electricity policy, and Na Kyung-won added her voice, saying she found it hard to accept that the list was being withheld.

The minister rebuffed the criticism, asking why the list had not been submitted under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration either, and saying it had long been standard practice to keep the list private because making it public led to all manner of unsolicited contact and complications. The minister added that the list was "not a state secret" and said the government would report to the National Assembly in an appropriate manner if necessary.


oskymoon@heraldcorp.com