South Korea is set to resume work on two nuclear reactors on the southeastern coast after a three-month hiatus as a state commission gave the green light to complete construction Friday, which is expected to affect the government's nuclear phase-out plan.
The construction of the Shingori-5 and Shingori-6 units in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, has been put on hold since July 14 as the government wanted to assess public opinions to decide on their fate, the first such action taken by the country.
The commission's recommendation based on surveys of a 471-member civilian jury and several rounds of public debates relieved anxieties felt by local companies involved in the project.
(Yonhap)
It, however, is viewed as delaying the drive by Seoul to push forward its new renewable energy initiative to wean South Korea away from atomic energy.
Although President Moon Jae-in pledged to abandon the project during the election campaign, local contractors and residents have strongly opposed the move and threatened to take legal actions to demand financial compensation.
A consortium led by the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) has already spent 1.6 trillion won ($1.4 billion) on the project that began last year, with construction already being 30 percent completed.
The KHNP said it will take necessary steps to resume construction after the committee's recommendation is accepted during a Cabinet meeting set for Tuesday.
"Once we receive the official documents from the government, we will notify contractors of the decision and push for the resumption of construction based on changed contract terms, which were delayed due to the temporary suspension," the KHNP said.
The KHNP estimated the financial damage on local contractors to be about 100 billion, setting out a plan to use reserve funds to compensate them.
The intensely debated issue, which was decided by a margin of 19 percentage points in favor of resuming the work, highlights different views between the government's renewable energy push and the established industries that prefer nuclear power to meet the country's needs for cheap electric power. (Yonhap)
