South Korea permits construction of Shin Kori 5-6 nuclear reactors

Commercial operation by 2023-2024 is to be expected.

Located near the southeastern city of Busan, the Shin Kori nuclear power plants, operated by Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power or KHNP, were given the confirmation of the dismissal request to cancel construction permits for Shin Kori 5 and Shin Kori 6 nuclear reactors.

South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of the construction of the two 1,340-megawatt (MW) reactors that are expected to enter into commercial operation by 2023 and 2024. 

According to Enerdata’s report, the Shin Kori nuclear power plant consists of the Shin Kori 1 and Shin Kori 2, two operational OPR-1000 reactors (1,000 MW) that were commissioned in 2011 and 2012, respectively, and of the Shin Kori 3 and Shin Kori 4 reactors (1,340 MW each), the first Korean-designed APR-1400, which were commissioned in 2016 and 2019.  

In South Korea, nuclear accounts for 18% of the country’s installed capacity, with 24 nuclear units distributed across 4 sites: Kori (7 reactors totalling 7.2 gigawatts [GW]), Wolsong (5 reactors, 4.1 GW), Hanbit (6 reactors, 5.9 GW), and Hanul (Ulchin) (6 reactors, 5.9 GW). On the other hand, two other nuclear power reactors are currently under construction in South Korea, which are the Shin Hanul 1 and Shin Hanul 2. 

Nonetheless, South Korea, which does not consider nuclear as a choice to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, targets to close 10 of its 24 nuclear reactors by 2038.