Expanded Continuous Inspections for All Nuclear Power Plants from 2027
New Offline Information Center for Residents Planned
Increased R&D Funding and Enhanced Monitoring of Radioactive Materials
Preparation for i-SMR Design Approval Accelerates
Starting in 2027, continuous inspections conducted during operation will be expanded to all nuclear power plants. An offline information center for residents living near nuclear power plants will also be established. Next year, preparations for the design approval of the innovative small modular reactor (i-SMR) will be fully launched.
The Nuclear Safety Committee announced on the 4th that it has drafted the 2026 budget plan reflecting these measures. The committee's budget for 2026 is set at 292.6 billion won, an increase of 15.7 billion won compared to 2025.
The committee has allocated 63 billion won to verify the safety of both operating and under-construction nuclear power plants. In particular, it has newly allocated 1 billion won to prepare for expanding continuous inspections-previously conducted only during maintenance periods-to all nuclear power plants during operation. At present, continuous inspections are being applied first to Saeul Unit 2, with plans to extend them to all nuclear power plants starting in 2027.
To enable faster on-site command and better protection of residents in the event of a large-scale radiological disaster, 1.9 billion won has been allocated next year to establish an on-site radiological emergency response infrastructure.
Following the completion of the Uljoo Regional Command Center (Uljin County, North Gyeongsang Province) in May 2022 and the scheduled completion of the Hanul Regional Command Center in March 2025, the Hanbit Regional Command Center (located 31 km from Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant) will be completed in 2026.
Once the regional command centers are established, if an accident expands and contaminates areas around the existing on-site command centers, the evacuation of nearby residents can be prioritized and executed, after which command can continue seamlessly from the regional command center. With the completion of the regional radiological emergency command system, an on-site response system capable of handling large-scale nuclear accidents, such as the Fukushima nuclear disaster, will be established.
To provide nuclear and radiation safety information more transparently to residents living near nuclear facilities, 2 billion won has been newly allocated for the establishment and operation of a Nuclear Safety Information Sharing Center. Since 2024, the committee has been providing safety information through an online information disclosure center and plans to install an offline information sharing center in 2026.
The committee will support 119.1 billion won for research and development (R&D) projects, an increase of 17.4 billion won compared to 2025, to secure regulatory technology capabilities and respond to current regulatory issues.
In particular, the committee plans to invest 13 billion won to resolve technical issues arising during the standard design approval review process and to secure regulatory verification technologies in a timely manner, ensuring the safe development of the government-led i-SMR project.
The committee also plans to strengthen the foundation for radiological analysis to continuously and reliably monitor the domestic environmental impact of the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima and similar events.
To monitor the potential inflow of suspected radioactive materials into the country, the committee has allocated 3.449 billion won to install and operate monitoring devices at airports and seaports. As a result, the monitoring rate is expected to increase from 94.46% in 2025 (77.30% at airports, 94.51% at seaports) to 94.49% in 2026 (87.67% at airports, 94.51% at seaports).
With the proportion of direct overseas purchases through e-commerce accounting for 94% of express cargo, the monitoring rate for such items was only about 72%. However, by adding five monitoring devices in 2026, the committee plans to raise the monitoring rate to around 80%.
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