The comprehensive nuclear promotion plan of the Republic of Korea

Access to economic and sustainable energy is essential in every country. Rep. of Korea has insufficient supply of energy resource. Accordingly, Rep. of Korea has considered nuclear energy as the main energy source since 1970’s oil crises. In 1994, Rep. of Korea declared “Direction to Long-term Nuclear Energy Policy towards the Year 2030” and revised the Atomic Energy Act to promote the safe and peaceful use of nuclear energy.According to this Act, the government made the CNEPP (comprehensive nuclear energy promotion plan) for every 5 years since 1997. This CNEPP shall include the analysis of current status and prospect, policy targets, implementation tasks, plan to invest, and other matters for the nuclear utilization and safety. National nuclear technology has advanced a lot by 1st (1997–2001), 2nd (2002–2007), and 3rd CNEPP (2007–2011). Through these previous plans, Rep. of Korea designed its own nuclear reactor, Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant (KSNP) and became the fifth nuclear reactor exporter after the United States, France, Russia and Canada.The Rep. of Korea has been preparing for the 4th CNEPP to advance further stage and to harmonize with the long-term policy direction. In this study, detailed process of the establishment of the 4th CNEPP was analyzed. By the analysis of the domestic and international environmental change, the achievement of the 3rd CNEPP and the major issue of the 4th CNEPP were proposed. Six promotion areas were set in the 4th CNEPP as nuclear utilization, sustainability, export/growth force, radiation, safety/public acceptance, and infra/international cooperation. It will be discussed by various social, economic, political, cultural, and technical professionals to harmonize with the national vision for the future, short- and long-term plans. By doing this, it will help to improve the nuclear safety, transparency, and effectiveness in the promotion of national nuclear technology.

► We analyze the achievement of the previous comprehensive nuclear energy promotion plan.
► Domestic and international nuclear environmental changes were analyzed.
► The direction and objective of the 4th comprehensive nuclear energy promotion plan were investigated.
► We analyze the establishment process and major implementation schedule of the 4th plan.