Lee Tee Jong, Straits Times 31 Dec 07;
SEOUL - SOUTH KOREA is turning to alternative energy sources such as nuclear power in the face of record oil prices and global concerns over climate change.
It is also investing in other forms of clean energy, including solar and hydro power.
With 20 reactors in the country, nuclear energy accounts for 40 per cent of total power output. That figure is expected to hit 60 per cent in 2035.
South Korea is the world's sixth-largest nuclear power-generating country, and it is building eight more nuclear plants.
'Increasing the use of nuclear energy is necessary to prevent rising oil prices from undermining our economic growth,' Mr Jung Jae Woo, a manager at Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), told visiting Asean journalists earlier this month.
Asia's third-largest economy imports almost all its oil, prices of which have been edging closer to US$100 (S$145) per barrel.
South Korea's nuclear energy programme was started during the oil crisis in the 1970s, and has contributed substantially to the country's industrial growth.
The aim now is to slash dependence on oil from the current 44 per cent to 35 per cent by 2030 through the increased use of nuclear energy.
From 2010, public organisations will be assigned an unspecified fixed amount of fossil fuels, and there will be a cap on the yearly increase in its usage.
'Nuclear energy is the clearest choice for a country completely lacking in natural resources but rich in technological expertise,' said KHNP president and chief executive officer Kim Jong Shin.
While there has been some opposition to the construction of nuclear plants because of concerns over safety, South Korea has been able to persuade most people to accept it.
Mr Jung said: 'There has been no major accident over three decades due to stringent safeguards on treating and storing radioactive waste.
'Residents near the plants have also been compensated adequately.'
Another factor in its favour is that nuclear energy emits little greenhouse gases, a key concern related to climate change.
South Korea is obliged under the Kyoto Protocol to start reducing greenhouse gases in 2013.
The country is the world's sixth-largest producer of greenhouse gases, discharging 591 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2005 - almost twice as much as in 1990.
The production rate is the fastest among countries in the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a bloc of the world's 30 most developed countries.
The air quality in Seoul and its surrounding province - home to almost half the country's 49 million people - was the worst among the capitals of OECD countries last year.
'We view this as a serious problem and have taken steps to find a solution,' said a Seoul city government spokesman.
From next month, owners of diesel-powered trucks must install emission control devices or face fines.
Earlier this month, a high-level committee chaired by Prime Minister Han Duck Soo came up with measures to reduce greenhouse gases.
The government will introduce a carbon dioxide market - details of which have not been disclosed - in which companies must buy rights to emit carbon dioxide.
Seoul wants to reduce private companies' production of carbon dioxide by 1.8 million tons by 2012.
Officials are also looking into regulating the greenhouse gas emissions of vehicles and aircraft as well as restricting the use of fossil fuels by industry.
They will also plant an additional 1.1 million ha of forest to absorb carbon dioxide.
The quest for clean energy has led South Korea to pump resources into solar and hydro power as well.
The 261 solar power facilities being built will produce enough power for 50,000 homes.
In May, local company Dongyang Engineering & Construction broke ground for the world's largest solar power plant, which is being built in Sinan, 400km south of Seoul.
Nine hydropower plants in the country now produce 1,950 gigawatt-hours of energy, equivalent to about 3.2 million barrels of crude oil.
This is 8 per cent of the country's total power output, and the plan is to raise it to 10 per cent by 2010.
'Hydropower is clean and enables us to do our part to address the problems caused by climate change,' said Korea Water Resources Corp manager Cha Kee Uk. 'It requires minimal resources to operate, compared with other energy types.'
South Korea is also exploring another energy source: Biomass, which involves the conversion of wood and agricultural wastes into gas that can be used as fuel.
Every year, there are about 3.2 million tonnes of wood and wood waste from forests and industry that can be used to produce biomass.
This is equal to 1.4 million tonnes of oil, and the country can save about 520 billion won (S$805 million) per year in crude oil imports by using biomass fuel.
Seoul has just announced plans to spend about 20 billion won by 2010 to obtain technologies to produce synthetic crude oil from biomass.
leeteejong@yahoo.com
The writer was invited to attend the Asean-Republic of Korea media exchange on sustainable energy in South Korea.
