The power that can be produced when the four nuclear power plants under review for continued operation are shut down exceeds Busan's annual consumption.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Cho Seung-han = Analysis has shown that the power that could be produced during the period when four nuclear power plants, which are undergoing review for continued operation at the end of their design life, were shut down exceeds the annual consumption of Busan City.

Converting this to facility capacity, it is equivalent to about 12 300 MW semiconductor factories (fabs), and if operated without stopping, the opportunity cost of selling electricity was estimated at about 1.9 trillion won.

According to the 'electricity production data related to nuclear power plants under continuous operation review' submitted by Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power submitted by Hwang Jeong-ah of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee of the National Assembly on the 29th, if Gori Units 3 and 4 and Hanbit Units 1 and 2, which are stopped among the nine nuclear power plants under continuous operation review, and Hanbit Units 1 and 2 had produced electricity without stopping, the amount of electricity that could have been produced by the 22nd of this month was 23.95 million MWh.

This value is calculated based on the average electricity sales volume over the past 10 years before the expiration of the design life.

KHNP estimated that this amount of electricity is 108% of the annual electricity consumption of Busan Metropolitan City last year, which is enough electricity for about 3.5 million people to use for one year.

Representative Hwang analyzed that if evaluated based on facility capacity, it has the capacity to supply power to about 12 large 300 MW semiconductor fabs and 10 360 MW artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.

The opportunity cost of selling electricity, applying last year's average nuclear power sales price of 79 won per kWh, was estimated at 1.8919 trillion won.

Gori Unit 3 was estimated at KRW 988.6 billion, followed by Gori Unit 4 at KRW 335.6 billion, Hanbit Unit 1 at KRW 355.1 billion, and Hanbit Unit 2 at KRW 12.5 billion.

Rep. Hwang said that if all four power plants stop for a year, the opportunity cost of not being able to sell electricity is calculated to be 1.962 trillion won per year.

The shutdown period for each unit is approximately 24 months for Kori Unit 3, approximately 13 months for Kori Unit 4, approximately 9 months for Hanbit Unit 1, and 18 days for Hanbit Unit 2.

However, KHNP stated, "We submitted a safety evaluation report for continued operation approximately 2-3 years before the expiration of the design life, and considering the normal review period of 3-4 years, it is difficult to determine that a review delay period will occur."

Rep. Hwang Jeong-ah said, “In the era of AI and semiconductors, electric power is a national strategic asset,” and added, “The enormous economic and industrial capabilities are not being utilized due to the island, where power generation facilities that have already been built have stopped.”

Rep. Hwang continued, "Safety must be strictly maintained, but operational gaps must be reduced through speedy screening, adjustment of application timing, parallel screening of the same reactor type, etc." He also emphasized, "We must also expand nuclear power plants and small modular reactors (SMRs) in the 12th Basic Electricity Supply and Demand Plan to support competition for energy hegemony with the AI ​​and semiconductor high-tech industries."