• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.153-174
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• 2019

South Korea's energy policy has been historically established through an energy production structure that relies on thermal and nuclear power generation in relation to a centralized 'Hard Energy System'. However, climate change issues are forcing the transition to renewable energy, and it is crucial for local governments to enable this. This study analyses Seoul city's local energy governance, which is known as One Less Nuclear Power Plant Initiative, by applying the collaborative governance framework inspired by Ansell and Gash (2008) and the Reflexivity framework of Confucianism. It is considered that the local energy governance model of Seoul city can be used as a model by other local governments, and it will eventually lead to a decentralized energy system in this era of energy transition.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.581-608
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• 2002

The electric power industry has played an important role in dramatic economic development in Korea and the electricity has constituted a critical factor sustaining the well-being of the Korean people. This study uses input-output analysis to investigate the role of four electric power sectors (hydroelectric, fossil-fuels, nuclear and non-utility) in the Korean national economy for the period 1985~1998, focusing on four topics: the impacts of electricity supply investments, the electricity supply shortage effects, and the impacts of the rise in electricity rates, and the inter-industry linkage effect. The overall results reveal that non-utility electric sector is superior in terms of the national economy-wide effects to other three sectors throughout the period. Finally, potential uses of the results are illustrated from the perspective of policy instruments and some policy implications are discussed.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.695-723
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• 2018

Recently, extreme weather due to climate change has become more frequent, and increase of fine dust has worsen air quality in Korea. Therefore, not only negative perception on coal-fired power generation is dominant, but also the social acceptance of nuclear power generation declines. This study aims at deriving consumer preferences on the mid and long term power mix with various energy sources. Willingness to pay for each generation source was estimated and the preference heterogeneity of consumers was examined by using mixed logit and latent class models. Mixed logit estimation results show that the preference heterogeneity of consumers is especially large for the nuclear power relative to renewable or coal energy. According to the estimation results from the latent class model, group 1 prefers renewable energy while group 2 prefers coal energy. Group 3 shows lexicographic preference which means restricted rationality. As for the policy implication, it is necessary to understand the preference heterogeneity of consumer groups in planning the mid to long term power mix.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.243-251
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• 2015

Nuclear power is currently the second largest power supply method in Korea and the number of nuclear power plants are planned to be increased as well. However, clear management policy for spent fuels generated from nuclear power plants has not yet been established. The back-end fuel cycle, associated with nuclear material flow after nuclear reactors is a collection of technologies designed for the spent fuel management and the spent fuel management policy is closely related with the selection of a nuclear fuel cycle. Cost is an important consideration in selection of a nuclear fuel cycle and should be determined by adding external cost to private cost. Unlike the private cost, which is a direct cost, studies on the external cost are focused on nuclear reactors and not at the nuclear fuel cycle. In this research, external cost indicators applicable to nuclear fuel cycle were derived and quantified. OT (once through), DUPIC (Direct Use of PWR SF in CANDU), PWR-MOX (PWR PUREX reprocessing), and Pyro-SFR (SFR recycling with pyroprocessing) were selected as nuclear fuel cycles which could be considered for estimating external cost in Korea. Energy supply security cost, accident risk cost, and acceptance cost were defined as external cost according to precedent and estimated after analyzing approaches which have been adopted for estimating external costs on nuclear power generation.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.865-885
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• 2022

Korean government updated her Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in 2021 and announced the target and various measures for reductions. Among the many issues, final energy demand and renewable energy power mix for 17 provinces to achieve the target are being analyzed using GCAM-Korea. Simulation results show that final energy demand of 2030 is approximated at the similar level to that of 2018. This is being enabled by the conservation of coal with higher electrification especially in industry sector. Higher power demand with lower coal consumption in final energy consumption is shown to be provided by 33.1% of renewable, 24.6% of gas, and 18.0% of nuclear power generation in 2030. Meanwhile, the share of coal-fired power generation is expected to be reduced to 12.8%. Major future power provider becomes Gyeongbuk (Nuclear), Gyeonggi (Gas), Jeonnam (Nuclear, Gas) and Gangwon (PV, Wind), compared to one of current major power provider Chungnam (Coal). This analysis is expected to provide a useful insight toward the national and provincial energy and climate change policy.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.3299-3309
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• 2022

Nuclear energy has the potential to play an influential role in energy transition efforts than is now anticipated by many countries. Realizing sustainable human development and reducing global climate crises will become more difficult without significantly increasing nuclear power. This paper aims to probe the role of nuclear energy, external debt, and financial globalization in sustaining human development and environmental conditions simultaneously in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries. This study applied a battery of second-generation estimation approaches over the period from 1990 to 2019. These methods are useful and robust to cross-countries dependencies, slope heterogeneity, parameters endogeneity, and serial correlation that are ignored in conventional approaches to generate more comprehensive and reliable estimates. The empirical findings indicate that nuclear energy and financial globalization contribute to human development, whereas external debt inhibits it. Similarly, financial globalization accelerates ecological deterioration, but nuclear energy and external debt promote environmental sustainability. Moreover, the study reveals bidirectional feedback causalities between human development, carbon emissions and nuclear energy consumption. The study offers useful policy guidance on accomplishing sustainable and inclusive development in BRICS countries.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.285-299
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• 2016

Although South Korea experienced a rolling blackout in 2011, the possibility of a blackout in South Korea continues to increase due to rapid electrification. This study examines the problems of energy taxation and price distortions as possible reasons for the rapid electrification in South Korea, which is occurring at a faster rate than in Japan, Europe, and other developed countries. Further, we suggest new energy taxation and price systems designed to normalize electricity prices. In order to do so, we consider two possible scenarios: the first imposes a tax on bituminous coal for electricity generation and the second levies a tax to provide compensation for the potential damages from a nuclear accident. Based on these scenarios, we analyze the effects of a new energy system on electricity price and demand. The results show that a new energy system could guarantee the power generation costs and balance the relative prices between energy sources, and could also help prevent rapid electrification. Therefore, the suggested new energy system is expected to be utilized as a basis for energy policy to decrease the speed of electrification, thus preventing a blackout, and to induce the rational consumption of energy in South Korea.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.67-73
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• 2015

Almost base-loaded power plants such as flaming coal and nuclear energy require large-scale transmission facilities (LTFs) in order to send electricity to remote consumption areas. As well known, LTFs incur various social costs. However, a decentralized generation source such as integrated energy business (IEB)-based combined heat and power (CHP) plant is located in nearby electricity-consuming area, and thus it does not demand LTFs, providing the benefits from avoiding the damages caused by them. This study attempts to measure the benefits of avoiding the damages from the LTFs by the use of the contingent valuation (CV) method. To this end, a national survey of randomly chosen 1,000 households was implemented and the public's willingness to pay (WTP) for substituting consumption of electricity generated from flaming coal-fired power plant, currently a dominant generation source in Korea, with that produced from IEB-based CHP plant. The results show that the WTP for the substitution is estimated to be about 41.4 won per kWh. Considering that this value amounts to 33% of the average price of residential electricity in 2014, the external benefit of the IEB-based CHP as a decentralized generation appears to be large.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.65-82
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• 2018

With the significant increase in spent ion-exchange resin generation, to meet the requirements of Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) of the Wolsong disposal facility in Korea, blending is considered as a method for enhancing disposal options for intermediate level waste from nuclear reactors. A mass balance formula approach was used to enable blending process with an appropriate mixing ratio. As a result, it is estimated around 44.3% of high activity spent resins can be blended with the overall volume of low activity spent resins at a 1:7.18 conservative blending ratio. In contrast, the reduction of high activity spent resins is considered a positive solution in reducing the amount of spent resins stored. In an economic study, the blending process has been proven to lower the disposal cost by 10% compared to current APR1400 treatment. Prior to commencing use of this blending method in Korea, coordinated discussion, and safety and health assessment should be undertaken to investigate the feasibility of fitting this blending method to national policy as a means of waste predisposal processing and management in the future.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.549-575
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• 2017

Recently, power mix of Korea is planned to be changed from coal-fired and nuclear to gas-combined and renewables by the energy policy of new government. This change will also affect city-gas industry. This paper analyze the economic impact of city-gas industry by scenario that switching coal-fired and nuclear power generation into gas-combined and fuel cell. 2030 input-output table is estimated to take the transfer period into account. As results, the induced impact by city-gas industry to the others was negative when switching into gas-combined while that was positive when switching into fuel cell. This results imply that the gas-fired can be a feasible alternative for short-run but fuel cell is more helpful for our economy in long-run.