Government spending on nuclear promotion has more than doubled in the past five years, while the budget for nuclear safety regulation has remained virtually unchanged during the same period.
On October 2, Lee Joo-hee, a member of the Democratic Party and a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, analyzed the budgets of departments related to nuclear power. She found that the nuclear promotion budget surged by 109.5% from 2022 to the proposed government budget for next year (2027). In contrast, the budget for safety regulation, primarily under the Nuclear Safety Commission, increased by only 4.6% during the same timeframe.
In 2022, the nuclear promotion budget was 521.5 billion won, while the safety regulation budget was 101.2 billion won, resulting in a 5.2-fold difference. By the 2027 budget proposal, these figures are projected to be 1.0928 trillion won and 105.8 billion won, respectively, widening the gap to 10.3 times.
As the government pushes for an expansion of nuclear power and the introduction of next-generation small modular reactors (SMRs), there are calls for a balanced increase in the safety regulation budget to meet the growing demand for safety oversight.
Lee Joo-hee stated, “As AI increases electricity demand and the role of nuclear power grows, the regulations ensuring safety must also expand so that the public can use nuclear power with confidence.” She added, “The expansion of nuclear power and safety regulation cannot be separated.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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