Even the Power Fund Moves Away from Nuclear... Zero Budget for Nuclear Workforce Training for 4 Years

KEPCO Power Fund Allocation 'Polar Opposites'... Renewable Energy Budget Tripled
Nuclear Ecosystem Support Merely 'Token'... Only 5.9 Billion Won Last Year
KEPCO's Financial Structure Worsens Due to Nuclear Phase-Out... Even Buying Electricity on Credit

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Junhyung] It has been revealed that the Moon Jae-in administration’s 5-year tenure also led to a ‘nuclear phase-out’ of the Power Industry Infrastructure Fund. In the past four years, the budget allocated from the power fund for training nuclear power plant site personnel was zero. In contrast, the budget allocated for renewable energy distribution projects such as solar power has more than tripled under the current administration. The power fund is a fund created from 3.7% of the electricity bills paid by the public and is used for the development of the power industry.

According to the ‘Detailed Expenditure Statement of the Power Fund’ submitted by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) to the office of Hong Seokjun, a member of the People Power Party, on the 20th, the budget allocated to the Nuclear Power Plant Site Personnel Training Center from the power fund from 2019 to this year was zero won. The training center is an institution established by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and others to systematically cultivate nuclear power experts. Initially, the government allocated 3 billion won annually from the power fund to the training center from 2017 to 2018. However, support from the power fund was cut off from 2019, and the training center’s budget remained ‘zero’ for about four years.

The situation was similar for other nuclear power projects. The budget allocated from the power fund to the ‘Nuclear Core Technology Development’ project shrank by more than half, from 73.6 billion won in 2016 to 31.2 billion won this year. This is nearly a 45% decrease compared to the 56.2 billion won supported last year.

Support for the nuclear power industry, which was directly hit by the nuclear phase-out policy, was also passive. The government only added the ‘Nuclear Ecosystem Support Project’ to the new projects of the power fund last year. This project includes support for small and medium-sized enterprises attempting to transition to other fields outside nuclear power and nuclear experts receiving career transition training. The problem is that, out of the total power fund expenditure amounting to 20 to 30 trillion won annually, the budget allocated to this project was only 5.9 billion won last year and 6.5 billion won this year.

Considering the damage to the nuclear power industry on the brink of collapse, the industry points out that this is merely a ‘token gesture.’ According to the ‘2020 Nuclear Power Industry Status Survey’ recently released by the Korea Nuclear Industry Association, the total sales of the domestic nuclear power industry in 2020 were 22.2436 trillion won, a decrease of 5.2077 trillion won compared to 27.4513 trillion won in 2016, before the Moon administration took office.

In contrast, renewable energy-related projects such as wind and solar power were active. The budget allocated to the ‘Renewable Energy Distribution Support’ project from the power fund increased more than twofold from 100 billion won in 2017 to 226.7 billion won the following year. In 2020, 347.6 billion won was invested, increasing the budget by about 248% compared to three years earlier. Expanding the scope to all related projects including Renewable Energy Distribution Support and Renewable Energy Financial Support, the budget increased by 610.3 billion won from 591 billion won in 2017 to 1.2013 trillion won last year.

There are criticisms that the power fund was used according to the administration’s preferences rather than its original purpose. The power fund is created from 3.7% of the electricity bills paid by the public, with the goal of developing the power industry. However, as the government used the power fund to promote nuclear phase-out and increase the share of renewable energy generation, KEPCO’s financial structure has deteriorated. Recently, KEPCO even revised related regulations to allow power to be purchased ‘on credit’ from power generation public enterprises. The Presidential Transition Committee also analyzed that during the Moon administration’s five years, nuclear power generation decreased, causing KEPCO’s power purchase costs to increase by about 13 trillion won.

Assemblyman Hong pointed out, “There is a side where the power fund was used in ways that do not align with its original purpose,” adding, “This is the result of the current administration pushing nuclear phase-out and excessively focusing only on renewable energy.”

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