Shin-Hanul 2 nuclear plant to begin operation as early as this month

Nuclear plant Shin Hanul Unit 2, right. [Photo by Yonhap]

Shin Hanul Unit 2, South Korea’s 28th nuclear power plant, has received operational approval after 13 years since construction began in 2010, marking the first new nuclear reactor to operate under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission convened a meeting Thursday to discuss and grant the permission, which came just over a month after the start of the Shin-Hanul 2 review process on July 28.

The Commission confirmed that the nuclear reactor met the criteria for approval under Article 21 of the Nuclear Safety Act. The plant will enter the trial operation stage later this month.

Shin-Hanul 2, with a generating capacity of 1,400 megawatts (MW) is a Korean-designed nuclear reactor (APR1400). Construction began in 2010 after a basic plan was confirmed in 2005.

In December 2014, the reactor along with Shin-Hanul 1 applied for an operating permit. Shin-Hanul 1, whose construction was completed late last year, is currently in operation.

Shin-Hanul 2 is set to undergo a six-month trial operation test. Upon successful completion of the test, it will undergo pre-use inspections by the Commission before commercial operations.

Shin-Hanul 2 is expected to contribute significantly to stabilizing Korea’s power supply once it becomes operational, as it accounts for about 2 percent of the country’s total power generation capacity.

Considering that Korea’s total electricity generation in 2020 was 594,392 gigawatt hours (GWh), Shin-Hanul 2’s 2 percent share corresponds to 11,887 GWh, which is equivalent to what the entire population of Korea, with about 21.77 million households, would consume over nearly two months based on an average monthly consumption of 307 kilowatt hour (kWh) per household.

It also surpasses the annual power consumption of semiconductor company SK hynix which used 9,209 GWh of electricity in 2021.

The new reactor is expected to accelerate the recovery of the nuclear power industry.

In the first half of this year alone, contracts signed between the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and its suppliers amounted to a total of 5.43 trillion won ($4.06 billion), which is up nearly 50 percent compared to the annual contract amount in the latter half of the Moon Jae-in administration in 2021.

It is also anticipated to have a positive impact on reducing the trade deficit and resolving the accumulated losses of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) as the need for costly liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other power generation sources will decrease, leading to a reduction in energy import costs.

This, in turn, will significantly alleviate the financial burden on KEPCO, experts said.

The Yoon government is pursuing a nuclear power development policy that encompasses continued operation of the 10 existing nuclear reactors until 2029, new reactor construction and exports, and the introduction of high-level radioactive waste disposal facilities.

Reviving the construction plan for Shin-Hanul 3 and 4, which was dropped during the previous administration, is a prominent example of this strategy.