President Lee warns against nuclear power concessions for steelmakers — Korea Herald
In South Korea, President Lee Jae-myung opposed granting major steel companies preferential access to cheap electricity from nuclear power plants. He said that the benefits of nuclear generation should not be enjoyed by only a few large corporations while society bears the risks and social costs of operating nuclear power plants.
As Korea Herald reports, the president stated his position on X while commenting on information that the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment had effectively rejected proposals to introduce agreements for purchasing nuclear-generated electricity for energy-intensive industries. Lee warned that after such a right is granted to one steel producer, other companies and sectors may demand similar terms.
Concerns over tariffs
According to a document submitted by the ministry to lawmaker Park Soo-min of the opposition People Power Party, the agency opposed direct sales of cheap nuclear electricity to individual companies. The ministry believes this could shift costs onto other consumers and raise questions of fairness.
The agency also expressed concern that special access to cheap electricity would increase the cost for the state-owned Korea Electric Power Corp. of purchasing power. This, in turn, could potentially lead to higher tariffs for households and other manufacturers.
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Decarbonization of the steel industry
Steel companies are seeking a stable and affordable supply of low-carbon electricity to transition to steelmaking technologies that use hydrogen instead of coal. Such a transition requires significant volumes of electricity, including for hydrogen production.
The issue became more pressing after the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism entered its final phase in January. According to the publication, last month the ministry tentatively decided not to introduce such agreements for steelmakers, including because of the likelihood of similar demands from other energy-intensive sectors, including semiconductor manufacturers.
Lee's statement came four days after the presentation of the government's Korean Green Transformation, or K-GX, strategy. It identifies the decarbonization of the steel industry and other carbon-intensive sectors as one of the areas of green industrial transformation; POSCO Holdings is participating in a flagship project to create a low-carbon steel production ecosystem.
