Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Explains "Economic Feasibility Manipulation of Wolseong Unit 1 Is Not True"

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chae-seok] Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) refuted on the 20th a report by a media outlet claiming that the economic feasibility of Wolseong Unit 1 was deliberately lowered by manipulation to justify its early shutdown.

KHNP released an explanatory statement saying, "The figures of 370.7 billion KRW, 177.8 billion KRW, and 22.4 billion KRW differ due to variables such as the sales unit price," and added, "In particular, since these results were calculated based on utilization rates of 85%, 70%, and 60% respectively, it is incorrect to simply compare them and claim that the economic feasibility was manipulated."

KHNP explained, "The accounting firm that evaluated the economic feasibility of Wolseong Unit 1 set a neutral scenario with a 60% utilization rate, considering the average actual utilization rates of Wolseong Unit 1 over the recent 3, 5, and 10 years at the time of evaluation, which ranged from 57.5% to 60.4%," and added, "Additionally, economic feasibility evaluations were conducted across utilization rate ranges from 20% to 85%."

They continued, "The results of 370.7 billion KRW and 177.8 billion KRW were derived by applying the sales unit price from the previous year, 2017, but the final economic feasibility evaluation used the 'sales unit price based on KEPCO's purchase plan standards,'" and responded, "This value is reflected in the company's mid- to long-term financial outlook and is provided to the government and overseas credit rating agencies."

Regarding reports that claimed KHNP reduced and concealed the economic feasibility evaluation three times to justify the early shutdown of Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 and ultimately forced the closure, KHNP rebutted, "The materials referred to in the article as 'internal analysis reports' and 'draft economic feasibility evaluation service reports' were merely intermediate steps in deriving the final evaluation results."

KHNP's "Task Force (TF) for Reviewing Government Policy Implementation on Wolseong Unit 1" clarified the report that stated the economic feasibility review for continued operation in March 2018 concluded that continued operation would yield a profit of 370.7 billion KRW, saying, "This was prepared by a non-accounting expert employee for reference purposes and was not an official document."

Regarding the claim that the economic feasibility of Wolseong Unit 1 sharply declined after the appointment of CEO Jeong Jae-hoon in April 2018, who was proactive about the nuclear phase-out policy, KHNP stated, "The change in evaluation results was due to reviewing various scenarios to find reasonable variables for the economic feasibility evaluation of Wolseong Unit 1."

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