Korea’s Nuclear Energy Policy in the Climate Era — Policy Change after the Fukushima Accident —

Prior to the Fukushima disaster, the world seemed to embrace “nuclear renaissance”. Nuclear energy was promoted as a potential solution to global climate change as it is non-fossil fuel with relatively low carbon emission. However, the Fukushima disaster of March 11, 2011, has raised reconsideration of the future role of nuclear energy power. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that devastated the eastern coast of Japan triggered a huge tsunami followed by power loss at nuclear reactors, leading to a major nuclear accident in history. In response to the Fukushima disaster, some nations have announced plans to slow or stop the use of nuclear energy. This article tries to analyze the impact of Fukushima to Korea’s nuclear energy. Korea has been known for following Japanese nuclear promotion policy in the past. What changes Korea has made after having eye-witnessed the historical disaster in neighboring country, which had a reputation of high safety maintenance capacity? This article serves to give an introductory yet comprehensive picture of Korea’s past, current, and future direction of nuclear energy policy. This article starts with an overview of nuclear role in Korea’s policy history. To analyze policy changes, the second and third chapters of this article focus on four dimensions before and after Fukushima: (1) Korea’s energy policy directions, (2) nuclear promotion policy, (3) public perception on nuclear energy, and (4) nuclear regulation and governance. The article concludes that the overall Korean energy mix for the future has not changed after Fukushima. The government plans to double nuclear’s electricity generation capacity by 2035. The government continues to seek export opportunities of nuclear reactors in other countries. There are some changes in regulation and safety governance and law after Fukushima. Further, the article poses more fundamental questions that Korea faces for future scholarly work.