SINGAPORE/SEOUL — South Korea’s nuclear power output is racing ahead of official targets due to fewer maintenance outages, a new plant coming online and reactors running at full tilt, helping to rein in generation costs and pushing down coal usage.
Generation from nuclear plants grew 8.7 percent year-over-year in the six months through June – three times official plans for 2.9 percent annual growth – while coal-fired output plunged 16 percent, data from state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) showed.
“The basic principle of generator operation in the power market is minimization of generation costs. Nuclear power generally has lower fuel costs than other generation sources such as coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG),” a Korea Power Exchange (KPX) spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.
“If nuclear and renewable facilities continue to be additionally expanded in the future, generation from gas and coal is likely to continue to decrease,” the spokesperson said.
A 29 percent annual decline in maintenance outage times and a 6 percent increase in installed nuclear capacity in the first half of 2025 also boosted output, KPX said.
The 1.4 GW Shin Hanul #2 plant southeast of Seoul came online in April 2024.
South Korea is Asia’s No.2 nuclear power generator after China. It is ramping up nuclear generation as policy resistance to the technology is waning, with Japan restarting idled plants and new reactors beginning commercial operations in India. The country of 51 million people operates 26 nuclear reactors with 26.05 GW of capacity and is building four more, including two units totalling 2.8 GW expected online in 2026.
