South Korea has world’s highest density of nuclear power plants

Posted on : 2014-08-09 15:00 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Density, and risk of accident, to increase if plans to build seven more reactors go ahead

By Lee Keun-young, science correspondent

South Korea has the highest density of nuclear power plants of any country with more than ten, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) data show.

The international comparison of nuclear power plant density, or number of nuclear facilities per unit area, was provided to New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) lawmaker Chang Ha-na on Aug. 8 by the NSSC. South Korea’s density stood at 0.2077, with 23 nuclear reactors providing 80,721 MW of electricity in an area of 99,720 ㎢, ranking it first among the world’s eleven countries with ten or more reactors in operation.

Civic groups had previously estimated density from World Nuclear Association data, but this was the first-ever confirmation in official government figures.

South Korea also ranked second for density among countries with at least one nuclear reactor. In first was Switzerland, which had five reactors and a density of 0.7734.

Japan, which placed second for density among countries with ten or more reactors, had 48 reactors and a density of 0.1121, or roughly half South Korea’s level. The US, with the world’s largest number of reactors at over 100, had a density of 0.01, or just one-twentieth South Korea’s. Compared to low-density countries Russia and Canada, with 0.0013 each, South Korea’s density was fully 160 times higher.

And with Seoul planning to build another seven new reactors beyond the eleven in its second basic energy plan decided on last January, South Korea is expected to have far and away the world’s largest number of nuclear power plants per unit area by around 2035.

“There are 4.2 million people who live in the in areas affected by the Kori, Wolseong, Yeonggwang, and Uljin power plant complexes,” said Chang.

“We need to follow in the footsteps of other high-density countries like Switzerland and Belgium, which have either tentatively done away with nuclear power or halted the building of new plants,” Chang continued. “When we draft our seventh basic power supply plan at the end of this year, we need to shut down the outdated plants and reduce our overall scale of nuclear power.”

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