“The bid for the new nuclear power plant candidate site will be promoted through a local government-led initiative,” Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) said.
Heads of local government have until 30 March to submit applications to host the planned reactors, which will have a combined generating capacity of 2.8 GWe.
KHNP said it has “established a site selection committee comprised of external experts to ensure fair and objective site selection”. It added: “We plan to select a new nuclear power plant candidate site through a comprehensive evaluation.”
Under the current plan, KHNP will select the plant site by 2027. This will be followed by a site evaluation and selection process lasting about five to six months, with the goal of obtaining a construction permit in the early 2030s and completion of the reactors in 2037 and 2038.
On 26 January, Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment Kim Sung-hwan confirmed that South Korea still plans to construct two new large nuclear power reactors by 2038, in line with its 11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand.
The Basic Power Supply and Demand Plan contains domestic power generation facility plans for the next 15 years. It is updated by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy every two years. A draft of the 11th Basic Plan – which covers 2024 to 2038 – was released in May 2024 and presented to a plenary session of the National Assembly by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on 19 February last year. It was approved by the National Assembly’s Power Policy Review Committee on 21 February 2025. The plan calls for two new large nuclear power reactors with a combined capacity of 2.8 GWe and 700 MW of small modular reactor capacity to be built by 2038 – in addition to the large reactors already under construction or planned.
Since the minister’s announcement, a number of cities and towns – including the southeastern cities of Busan and Ulsan – have reportedly shown interest in hosting the new nuclear reactors, Yonhap reported.
