South Korea's Ulju County Seeks to Streamline Procedures for Support Projects Around Nuclear Power Plants

Ulju County, Ulsan Metropolitan City, South Korea, announced on August 26 that it will propose simplifying the procedures for implementing support projects in areas around power plants at the administrative meeting of local governments hosting nuclear power plants to be held next month, and will push for institutional adjustments to expand the scope of support for electricity bill subsidy projects.

According to the Enforcement Decree of South Korea's Act on Support for Areas Around Power Plants, basic support projects for areas around power plants include profit-generating projects, public and social welfare projects, education projects, resident welfare support projects, investment attraction support projects, electricity bill subsidy projects, and other support projects.

The first institutional improvement proposal put forward by Ulju County this time is to simplify the procedures for using basic support funds generated during the construction of small-capacity power plants. Under the current process, the head of the local government responsible for affairs in areas around power plants must apply to South Korea's Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment for relevant projects, and after receiving subsidies, open accounts for each power plant and organize implementation.

Ulju County believes that with the increase in the construction of small-capacity power plants, including renewable energy power stations, the basic support funds corresponding to some projects are relatively small in scale. For example, the minimum basic support fund for small-capacity renewable energy power stations is 20 million KRW, which in practice only allows for small-scale projects, making project confirmation and implementation difficult.

To this end, Ulju County recommends allowing local governments to first accumulate small basic support funds generated from the construction of small-capacity power plants, and then organize and implement projects once the funds reach a certain scale. For example, after accumulating to over 100 million KRW, related support projects can be promoted in a unified manner.

The second proposal is to expand the support criteria for electricity bill subsidy projects. Ulju County stated that this move aims to alleviate the economic burden on residents in areas around power plants, enable local residents to more directly benefit from energy welfare, and adapt to population inflows and changes in living conditions in these areas.

Under current regulations, for nuclear power plants or power plant areas where the total annual basic support project amount reaches 500 million KRW or more, the electricity bill subsidy may account for 40% of the support project costs. Ulju County this time proposes raising this ratio to 50%.

A relevant official from Ulju County stated that if the above agenda items are approved at the administrative meeting of local governments hosting nuclear power plants, Ulju County will submit institutional improvement proposals to the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and relevant electric power fund management agencies.

It is reported that the administrative meeting of local governments hosting nuclear power plants will be held on September 8 in Gyeongju City, South Korea, with participating local governments including Gyeongju City, Ulju County, Gijang County, Yeonggwang County, and Uljin County. The meeting will discuss agenda items submitted by each local government.