Construction of Nuclear Power Plants in UK and its Implications

With the gradual closure of old coal-fired power plants and the NPPs reaching the end of design lifetime in the UK, the UK government expresses its willingness to expand its use of nuclear power. South Korea is in an energy security environment where it lacks energy resources and has difficulty in connecting the power grid with foreign countries. The reason why the UK has resumed the construction of new NPPs for the proper proportion of renewable energy and nuclear power even in a relatively good energy supply environment than South Korea needs to be examined closely and reflected into the South Korea's national energy policy. This paper examines the background and progress of the UK's resumption of construction of new NPPs, and draws out the implications for South Korea's energy policy. It seems that the UK would try to reduce the portion of coal power generation while expanding nuclear and renewable energy, which are low-carbon power generation sources. The proportion of nuclear and renewable energy power generation are expected to increase from 22% in 2016 to 36% in 2035 and from 25% to 46%, respectively. South Korea aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 37% compared to Business As Usual (BAU) by 2030 in order to actively contribute to global climate change in an adverse energy security environment that imports more than 95% of energy from overseas.