South Korea’s utilities estimate demand for baseload electricity to grow at 2% per year, requiring 1500MWe per year of new capacity to be commissioned. A third of this is expected to be nuclear, involving eight more reactors by 2015, in addition to the four that are currently under construction.
Yonggwang 5 and 6 are due for completion next year, with Ulchin 5 and 6 in 2004/5. All four PWRs are 1000MWe Korean Standard Nuclear Plants (KSNPs). The next planned units are to be two improved KSNPs at Shin-Kori and two at Shin-Wolsong (see NEI July 2001, p8).
The first of the advanced PWR designs are due to be commissioned soon after, two at Shin-Kori and two at a new location adjacent to Ulchin. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) say that the first two APR-1400 units at Shin-Kori will cost between $1300 and $1400 per kilowatt. Later reactors in the series are predicted to be $1200/kW and a construction time of 48 months.
Development of the APR began in late 1992, based on ABB-CE’s System 80+. The reactor has US design certification, but has never been built.
