Nuclear power plant public debate committee "deliberation instead of majority decision"... 300 citizens discuss for 3 days and 2 nights

The Nuclear Power Plant Public Opinion Committee for the Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand held its first meeting and discussed the committee's operating regulations, citizen participation survey service plan, and direction for public deliberation.

The Public Debate Committee announced on the 8th that it held its first meeting at the BizHub Seoul Center in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 7th.

The committee first discussed the basic matters necessary for operation, such as the purpose, function, composition, and duties of the committee, as well as the principles for operating public deliberation.

The committee agreed that the results of public deliberation discussing the role of future nuclear power plants should not be derived solely from majority selection, but should be organized through deliberation by synthesizing opinions, basis for judgment, commonalities, and major opinions.

In order to ensure transparency in the public deliberation process, in principle, meeting minutes are made public after confirmation by the committee.

After further reviewing the need for subcommittees, the committee decided to decide on operating regulations at the second meeting.

The committee then decided on a citizen participatory survey service plan to be used in making recommendations.

The citizen participation group decided to select about 300 people through random sampling by floor considering region, gender, age, etc.

In the survey, we plan to have the citizen participation group conduct preliminary study using deliberation materials and online, and then present a well-thought-out opinion through a deliberation discussion for 3 days and 2 nights.

It was decided to have experts in each field provide the information necessary to create learning materials for the citizen participation group, and to support them in conducting research and analysis of domestic and foreign cases, and verification of facts and sources.

This service plan will be announced on the Nara Marketplace on the 13th.

In the discussion on the direction of public deliberation, the committee reported that members broadly discussed the future direction of public deliberation.

The members agreed to comprehensively discuss the role of nuclear power plants as one of the alternatives to cover future electricity demand in accordance with the basic direction of the Cabinet meeting.

In addition, it was decided to organize areas that can be commonly accepted, areas that can be conditionally accepted, and issues that remain after deliberation, without assuming that a specific conclusion or agreement will be reached.

The Public Deliberation Committee elected Commissioner Lee Yoon-seok and Commissioner Shim Seong-hee as co-spokespersons. Going forward, major agenda items will be discussed on a regular basis once a week.

At the Cabinet meeting on the 22nd of last month, the government announced a plan to promote public debate on nuclear power plants, including holding a three-month public debate on how to use nuclear power to meet the demand for electricity, which is expected to increase rapidly due to three major mega projects.