26.08.2015   Nuclear Reactors 1

Republic of Korea

In 2008, about 64.5% of electricity in the Republic of Korea was generated from fossil fuels (coal and natural gas), and approximately 34% from nuclear power plants. The contribution of hydropower and other sources is below 2% [7.4].

The pattern of SMR competitiveness in the Republic of Korea (Table 7.11) is generally similar to the one in Japan (Table 7.10). No data on renewable plants is available in reference [7.1] for the Republic of Korea.

Table 7.11. LUEC for SMRs and other technologies (electricity generation, Republic of Korea)

5% discount rate

10% discount rate

Technology

(other than SMRs) LUEC range. reference Competitive SMRs

UsD/MW (from Table 7 7)

2UEC range, reference Competitive SMRs

UsD/MW (from Table 7 7)

Nuc’ea7p’an‘s,29.05-32.93 No SMRs (Table 3.7a[7.1])

42.09-48.38 No SMRs

PWR-90SL, PWR-

Coai-Tireapiants 65.86-68.41 302TB, PWR-302-T2,PWR — (Table 3.7b[7.1]) , 335TTL ,

71.12-74.25 No SMRs

PWR-90SL, PWR-

bas-rireapians 89.80-90.82 125M2,PWR-302TB, PWR — (Table 37c[71]) 302T2,PWR-335TT2

PWR-90S2, PWR-302TB, 93.63-94.70 PWR-302-T2, PWR- 335TT2

Renewable power plants

No reference data n/a

(Table 3.7d[7.1])

No reference data n/a

As in the previous cases, nuclear plants are generally competitive with coal — and gas-fired plants[62], and NPPs with large reactors outperform those with SMRs. However, SMRs could be chosen

as a replacement or alternative to power plants using fossil fuel based on the siting considerations like the grid capacity, spinning reserve requirements, or the availability of water for cooling towers of a NPP.