The government has signed an agreement with the southern coastal county, Uljin, to build Shin Hanul No.3 and No.4 nuclear plants by 2022, reports Reuters.
Located approximately 330km southeast of Seoul, the Uljin County currently has an existing nuclear power plant with six reactors.
South Korea Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said: "Nuclear power is an unavoidable choice if we consider poor natural resources, economic structure centring manufacturing and duty to reduce greenhouse gas emission.
Under the terms of the deal, the government will provide $252.3m worth of infrastructure as well as other welfare programs to the county to support the construction of four more nuclear reactors by 2022.
The county will cooperate with the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power’s project for the development of four reactors in exchange for the compensation package comprising nearly KRW200bn ($145m) worth of infrastructure assistance and over KRW80b ($58m) worth of education and medical facility building.
Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power is owned by state-run Korea Electric Power.
Currently, the country operates 23 nuclear reactors at four nuclear power plants, which accounts to 26% of the nation’s total power supply, reports Yonhap News.
