[Exclusive] Yoon Launches 'Nuclear Power Superpower' Drive... Ministry of Industry Pushes to Establish 'Nuclear Export Country' Division

Transition Team Considers Establishing New Nuclear Export Country Division in Ministry of Industry
Expanding Existing Nuclear Export Promotion Section to Bureau Level
Follow-up to Ahn's Pledge to Create 'Nuclear Deputy Minister' Position
Support for Yoon's Plan Difficult with Section-Level Organization

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol visited the construction suspension site of Shin Hanul Units 3 and 4 located in Uljin, Gyeongbuk, last December and announced his nuclear power plant pledge.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] The Presidential Transition Committee is considering establishing a bureau-level organization within the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy dedicated to supporting nuclear power plant exports. The plan is to expand and reorganize the existing division-level Nuclear Power Export Promotion Division into a bureau-level organization to strengthen the government's support system for nuclear power plant exports.

According to related ministries on the 2nd, the Transition Committee is seriously considering the establishment of a Nuclear Power Export Bureau within the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The committee plans to finalize the plan for the new bureau in consultation with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. If the Ministry of the Interior and Safety opposes the expansion of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s organization, a plan to consolidate some bureaus is also being considered.

The consideration of establishing the Nuclear Power Export Bureau by the Transition Committee is interpreted as a follow-up measure to the creation of a ‘Deputy Minister for Nuclear Power’. Previously, Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo pledged during his presidential campaign to appoint a deputy minister-level official responsible for nuclear power policy within the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The Transition Committee plans to establish the Deputy Minister for Nuclear Power as promised by Chairman Ahn to realize the new government’s policy of reversing the nuclear phase-out. A Transition Committee official said, "The establishment of the Nuclear Power Export Bureau is being discussed as an extension of the next government’s nuclear power policy, including the Deputy Minister for Nuclear Power," adding, "The existing division-level Nuclear Power Export Promotion Division will be insufficient to realize the next government’s vision."

If the Nuclear Power Export Bureau is established as planned by the Transition Committee, the number of nuclear-related bureaus within the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will increase from one to two. Currently, the Ministry’s nuclear-related organization consists of one bureau, the Nuclear Industry Policy Bureau, and four divisions: the Nuclear Industry Policy Division, Nuclear Power Export Promotion Division, Nuclear Environment Division, and Nuclear Regional Cooperation Division.

The problem is that the government organization responsible for nuclear power exports is limited to only the Nuclear Power Export Promotion Division. The Transition Committee views that with the launch of the ‘Nuclear Power Export Promotion Task Force’ aiming to export 10 nuclear reactors under the next government, an expansion and reorganization of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the main ministry in charge, will be inevitable. The existing division-level organization alone cannot properly support President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol’s vision of creating a ‘one team’ for nuclear power exports to generate synergy among government ministries.

Meanwhile, domestic nuclear power exports have halved in the past five years due to the impact of the nuclear phase-out policy. According to the ‘2020 Nuclear Industry Status Survey’ released last month by the Korea Nuclear Industry Association, the number of domestic nuclear power export contracts in 2020 was 30, down more than half from 62 contracts in 2015. During the same period, the contract amount for nuclear power exports decreased from approximately 186 billion KRW to about 41.6 billion KRW.