South Korean Nuclear Update

A senior government official in South Korea is predicting that the nation will have to depend on nuclear energy for about 60 percent of its energy in the next 30 years:

"If we cannot find a new energy source to replace today’s fossil fuels, we have no choice but to raise our reliance on nuclear power," MOST director general Kim Young-shik said.

In the wake of the energy crisis in the 1970s, Korea, which does not produce a drop of petroleum, started tilting toward a reliance on nuclear power as a secure energy.

As the world's sixth-largest nuclear power producing nation, it now operates 19 nuclear reactors, which combine to provide roughly 40 percent of its total electricity needs.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics

Comments

DV8 2XL said…

The funny thing is that while we argue and fight the benefits of nuclear energy, countries without a powerful fossil fuel sector are going ahead and getting on with the task of assuring their energy future. The biggest laugh will be when we will wind up buying powerplants from them because their reactor technology outstrips ours.

July 11, 2005 at 2:12 PM

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