Yoon Calls for 'Nuclear Phase-Out Reversal'... Could the Establishment of an 'Energy Constitution' Be Advanced by 2 Years?

The Transition Committee Reviews the Establishment of the 4th Basic Energy Plan for Q3 This Year
Considering Advancing the Original 2024 Schedule by 2 Years
Shin Hanul Units 3 and 4 Restart and Continued Operation of Nuclear Power Plants Expected to Be Reflected

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is attending the secretariat meeting held at the Financial Supervisory Service Training Institute in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 29th, at the 20th Presidential Transition Committee./Photo by Transition Committee Press Corps

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] The Presidential Transition Committee is considering advancing the schedule for establishing the 4th Basic Energy Plan, originally planned for 2024, by two years to be implemented during the third quarter of this year. This is based on the judgment that it would be difficult to realize President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol's nuclear power policy on time without revising the Basic Energy Plan, often called the "Energy Constitution." However, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the main ministry in charge, expects that the resumption of construction for Shin Hanul Units 3 and 4, a key pledge of President-elect Yoon, will be possible around 2025.

According to related ministries on the 30th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy recently reported to the transition committee that it plans to completely revise the Basic Energy Plan during the third quarter of this year. Along with this, the ministry also submitted a plan to the transition committee to finalize the next government's energy policy direction at the Cabinet meeting within the first half of this year and to include President-elect Yoon's nuclear power revitalization measures in the Basic Energy Plan. The ministry also intends to reflect President-elect Yoon's pledge to resume construction of Shin Hanul Units 3 and 4 and to continue operating nuclear power plants in the 10th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand, scheduled to be established by the end of this year.

The Basic Energy Plan is a national master plan for stable energy supply and safety management, established every five years. The Moon Jae-in administration, to promote its nuclear phase-out policy, approved the Energy Transition Roadmap, which included halting new nuclear power plant construction, at the Cabinet meeting in 2017 and finalized the 3rd Basic Energy Plan in 2019. According to this schedule, the next Basic Energy Plan is to be established and promulgated in 2024. Unless the 4th Basic Energy Plan is advanced, it will be difficult to realize President-elect Yoon's pledge to immediately resume construction of Shin Hanul Units 3 and 4. Even if the operating period of Kori Unit 2, which will reach the end of its design life in April next year, is to be extended, the Basic Energy Plan must include measures for continued operation of nuclear power plants.

However, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has set the resumption of construction for Shin Hanul Units 3 and 4 in 2025. This is far from the "immediate resumption" emphasized by President-elect Yoon. A ministry official explained, "When the decision to halt construction of Shin Hanul Units 3 and 4 was made, the project had not yet entered the actual construction phase," adding, "(2025) is the date calculated considering all necessary procedures for resuming construction, and the process can be expedited during the licensing phase to bring it forward."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.