A public deliberation committee on nuclear power for South Korea's basic plan on electricity supply and demand has set its main topic as "What kind of electricity will we live on in the future?" The sub-topic is "the role and share of nuclear power in meeting future electricity demand." The framing reflects an effort to weigh how much nuclear capacity the country should use to cut carbon emissions in response to the climate crisis while also meeting electricity demand that has soared with the artificial intelligence boom. The committee decided, however, to treat the government's previously announced renewable energy deployment targets and reactors whose sites have already been confirmed as fixed assumptions, excluding them from the discussion.
The committee said on the 15th that it held its second meeting the previous day at the Jeollyeok Giban Center (Power Infrastructure Center) in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo district, where it settled on the deliberation agenda and the design of the citizen participation panel's deliberation process. At its first meeting, the committee had agreed to discuss the role of nuclear power comprehensively as one option for covering future electricity demand, in line with the basic direction set by the Cabinet. The latest decision narrows that into a deliberation topic focused on the future role and share of nuclear power.
The committee also decided to form an expert subcommittee of up to 10 members drawn from the environmental and nuclear fields as well as neutral experts. The expert panel will prepare the deliberation materials to be provided to the citizen panel. Candidates will be nominated by environmental groups and nuclear-related organizations before the next meeting and then confirmed. The survey questions to be put to the citizen panel will be worked out starting at the next meeting.
The committee also gave advance notice of four items it will not address in this deliberation: whether to extend the operating licenses of individual reactors, individual reactor projects whose sites have already been confirmed, the government's announced renewable energy deployment targets, and the selection of sites in specific regions. License extensions were excluded because they fall under the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission rather than the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment. Reactors with confirmed sites and the government's renewable energy targets are likewise treated as already settled. The decision appears to reflect concern that canceling reactor projects already under way or adjusting the government's renewable energy targets through public deliberation could unnecessarily deepen social conflict.
"This deliberation is a process of finding, together with the public, the role and share of nuclear power in meeting future electricity demand," committee Chairman Eun Jae-ho said. "I hope it becomes a starting point for freeing the nuclear issue from partisan and ideological frames."