President Moon Jae-in’s nuclear phaseout policy has resurfaced as a bone of contention, triggered by ruling Democratic Party Rep. Song Young-gil’s remarks that the construction of Shin Hanwool 3 and 4 should be resumed.



As the first ruling party politician to raise a dissenting voice against the administration’s push for a nuclear phaseout, Song instantly drew criticism from a fellow party member. But two opposition parties praised Song’s remarks and called them “brave.”



Questions over whether South Korea is capable of producing sufficient renewable energy coupled with the fact that the likely candidates to head the state-run Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute favor the phaseout are widely expected to further exacerbate the political wrangling, with the main opposition parties stepping up pressure on the government to retain nuclear energy.



“The collapse of the supply chain for nuclear reactor equipment is becoming a reality due to the government’s decision to stop construction of new nuclear power plants. For the export and safe operations of nuclear reactors, equipment should be supplied consistently,” Song said last Friday at an event hosted by the country’s nuclear energy industry.



“Though old nuclear reactors and power generators should be suspended, the government needs to consider resuming the construction of Shin Hanwool 3 and 4,” he said, though he also expressed agreement with Moon’s general road map for phasing out nuclear power.



Song also emphasized the economic value of nuclear reactor exports. An export of a reactor is worth about $5 billion, equivalent to the export of 250,000 midsize cars or 5 million smartphones.



On the campaign trail, Moon vowed to bring up renewable energy to 20 percent of total energy sources by 2030 from the current 7 percent.





(Yonhap)