South Korean survey shows 80% of respondents support including new nuclear power plants in power planning

An energy public perception survey released by the Korea Energy Information Culture Foundation on August 28 showed that 82.9% of respondents believed it is necessary to include plans for new nuclear power plants in the 12th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand currently being formulated, in response to future growth in electricity demand.

The survey was commissioned by the Korea Energy Information Culture Foundation and conducted by Korea Research International via telephone interviews from June 12 to 15, targeting 2,000 adults aged 18 and above. The response rate was 10.0%, with a sampling error of ±2.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

The survey results showed that 79.2% of respondents considered it necessary to build new nuclear power plants. Regarding whether nuclear power plants that have reached their design lifespan should continue operating, 86.5% of respondents said it was necessary.

However, a gap remains between respondents' overall support for nuclear projects and their acceptance of local siting. Approximately 80% of respondents supported building new nuclear power plants or continuing to operate existing ones, but when asked whether they would approve if a nuclear power plant were built near their residence or workplace, the proportion in favor dropped to 56.3%.

Regarding small modular reactors (SMRs), 86.8% of respondents considered it necessary to advance their development and utilization. The survey explanation noted that SMRs are next-generation nuclear power technology with smaller unit capacity than large nuclear units, can be manufactured in factories and assembled on site, and have application scenarios including power generation, district heating, seawater desalination, and hydrogen production. Multiple countries are currently conducting related development and demonstration efforts.

However, public awareness of SMRs remains relatively limited. After the aforementioned explanation, only 39.7% of respondents indicated they were familiar with small modular reactors.

The Korea Energy Information Culture Foundation plans to continue conducting energy public perception surveys on carbon neutrality and the power grid in the third quarter of this year, followed by a survey on energy policy in the fourth quarter.