[Editorial] Nuclear Power Plants Are Useless Without Transmission Networks

The most critical variable determining success or failure in the artificial intelligence (AI) supremacy race is “electric power.” The saying “electricity is national power” is not an exaggeration. Major countries around the world are devoting all their resources to ensuring a stable supply of electricity to data centers and advanced manufacturing facilities. The core of the AI competition lies in who can secure electricity more efficiently and reliably. In this context, news that candidate sites have been selected for new nuclear power plants is welcome.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power announced on June 17 that it has selected Yeongdeok County in North Gyeongsang Province for two new large-scale nuclear reactors and Gijang County in Busan for one small modular reactor (SMR) as candidate sites. With this, the Yoon administration’s energy mix policy, which aims to harmonize nuclear power and renewable energy, has entered its full-fledged implementation phase. As the immense demand for electricity triggered by AI data centers and advanced semiconductor clusters continues to grow, expanding nuclear power is inevitable. It is also a positive change that, moving beyond the framework of the nuclear phase-out debate, there is now a more forward-looking assessment of the economic benefits that attracting nuclear power plants could bring to local economies.

The problem, however, is that the expansion of transmission networks to deliver electricity produced by nuclear power plants has been slow. As demonstrated by the debate over the expansion of the Dongseoul Substation in Hanam City, building transmission networks is a complex issue, entangled with local interests and resident acceptance. The high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission project to supply electricity from the east coast to the Seoul metropolitan area is also being delayed due to opposition from local residents. Since the enforcement of the “Special Act on National Backbone Power Grid Expansion” in September last year, a pan-government support system has been established. Now, the key is concrete implementation, and the schedule must be managed in reverse to align with the completion of the new nuclear power plants in 2035 and 2037.

A power plant that is disconnected or not connected to the transmission grid is merely a half-completed infrastructure, unable to supply the electricity it generates. The government must recognize that the pace of building transmission networks will determine the fate of South Korea’s advanced industries. It is essential to promote the expansion of generation facilities and the construction of transmission networks as a unified national project and to focus policy capabilities on resolving unreasonable regulations and administrative delays.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.