Major economies are staking their survival in the AI era on securing electricity
South Korea urgently needs large-scale power infrastructure
The case for nuclear power is growing, yet the government remains cautious
A public deliberation process will decide whether to build new nuclear plants
That stands in stark contrast to how other leading nations are doubling down on nuclear
Large-scale AI projects cannot succeed without nuclear power
By far the most pressing issue for major economies — the United States, China and Europe — is electricity. Governments and companies are pouring massive investment into keeping pace with global AI trends, yet the power needed to sustain that push is in critically short supply. Compounding the problem, parts of the electrical grid in the US and Europe are more than 40 years old and badly in need of renewal. Against that backdrop, big tech companies are going to extraordinary lengths to secure power, including repurposing ship engines as electricity generators.
South Korea is no exception. Stably operating the government's semiconductor cluster in the southwestern region — announced this year at a cost of 800 trillion won ($604 billion) — will require 6.3 GW of electricity, an amount that demands more than five large nuclear reactors running at full capacity around the clock. Factor in the power demands of the government's three flagship mega-projects, and the projected maximum electricity demand for 2040 rises to 158.4 GW, up 26.6 GW from earlier estimates — a scale the current generation mix simply cannot handle. Industry groups say additional power infrastructure, including nuclear plants, must be built without delay.
Even as the case for nuclear power grows stronger, the government is proceeding with caution. It has launched a public deliberation process to decide whether to include new large-scale nuclear reactors in the 12th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand, covering 2026 to 2040. The plan had been expected to be finalized as early as this month, but the deliberation process has pushed back the announcement. More worrying still is the possibility that the process — which involves a citizen panel of roughly 300 people — could produce the worst-case outcome: the exclusion of nuclear power from the plan altogether.
At a moment when investment in AI energy infrastructure cannot come fast enough, debating whether to build nuclear plants at all is a luxury South Korea cannot afford. Nuclear power is in effect the only energy source capable of generating large amounts of electricity stably around the clock regardless of weather, while emitting far less carbon than fossil fuels. That is precisely why countries that were once reluctant to embrace nuclear power — citing safety concerns — have done a complete about-face in recent years.
US President Donald Trump set the tone last year, issuing an executive order to quadruple the country's nuclear capacity from 100 GW in 2024 to 400 GW by 2050 — a goal that would require building more than 200 new reactors. China is pushing ahead with plans to build 150 new nuclear plants by 2035; in August it approved four nuclear power plant projects comprising eight reactors in total. Sweden last year scrapped a nuclear ban it had maintained for more than four decades and announced plans to build up to 10 new reactors over the next decade.
Earlier this year, the government's 11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand set out to build two new nuclear reactors and establish the country's first small modular reactor. On Tuesday, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission approved a 10-year operating-life extension for units 3 and 4 of the Gori nuclear power plant. The government clearly recognizes nuclear power's importance, but the current nuclear infrastructure blueprint falls far short of what the three mega-projects will demand. Given that completing a single large reactor takes more than a decade, construction must begin as soon as possible.
Public support for building new nuclear plants is already well established. In a second-quarter survey on public energy awareness released last month by the Korea Energy Information and Culture Foundation, 82.9 percent of respondents said new nuclear construction plans should be included in the basic electricity plan, and 79.2 percent said new plants were necessary.
President Lee Jae-myung, speaking at a senior presidential secretary meeting earlier this year, underscored the importance of securing energy for AI infrastructure. "We must squarely face the fact that how we prepare for and respond to future energy needs will determine not only the country's growth but its very fate, and we must prepare well," Lee said. The government must now accelerate its push for nuclear power — before it is too late to compete in the AI era.
yeongdai@heraldcorp.com
