South Korea is making remarkable strides toward cleaner energy.
Government data is showing that nuclear power generation has surged in the country by 8.7% in the first half of 2025, according to Reuters. That is about triple the target goal the country has set.
This incredible rise is credited to fewer maintenance outages, the addition of the 1.4-gigawatt Shin Hanul #2 reactor in April 2024, and reactors running at full capacity.
Nuclear energy now accounts for 31.7% of power generation. In 2019, that number was just 25.9%. And as for coal, its share of power generation has plummeted from 40.4% to 28.1%. With coal imports down 8% annually on average since 2022, that has helped the country lower its coal import bill by 23%.
Nuclear energy is a powerful tool for cutting polluting gases. It produces a large amount of low-carbon electricity while going hand-in-hand with renewable energy sources like solar and wind by providing 24/7 power.
“If nuclear and renewable facilities continue to be additionally expanded in the future, generation from gas and coal is likely to continue to decrease,” a Korea Power Exchange (KPX) spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.
Yet nuclear is not without concerns. Radioactive waste management, high upfront construction costs, and safety risks are some of the top drawbacks that come with switching to nuclear.
At a global scale, certain countries are concerned about the possible connection between South Korea’s advancements in nuclear technology and nuclear weapons. While South Korea has long been an ally of Western countries, its rivals in the north pose a risk of regional tension and proliferation worries.
Also, despite the clear long-term environmental benefits, rapid nuclear expansion has revealed a new challenge. As Sudarshan Varadhan, Joyce Lee, and Heekyong Yang explain in their Reuters article, “The growth in nuclear power is crowding out coal-fired power on transmission lines in South Korea.”
“Plenty of coal plants are sitting idle not by choice, but because there’s no spare capacity on the transmission lines to carry more power,” explained Seunghoon Yoo, professor at the Seoul National University of Science and Technology.
To put it simply, the country’s power grid can’t handle all the electricity being produced, so some coal plants have to sit unused even when they’re ready to run.
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