Construction permits for two more Shin Kori units

23 June 2016

South Korea's nuclear regulator has today approved the construction of units 5 and 6 of the Shin Kori nuclear power plant. The APR1400 units are scheduled to begin operating in March 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Shin Kori 5 and 6 - 460 (KHNP)
An artistic impression of how Shin Kori 5 and 6 could look (Image: KHNP)

Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) applied in September 2012 for a construction permit for two more APR1400 reactors at the site in south-eastern Korea.

In January 2014, an announcement from the Ministry of Industry confirmed the government's go-ahead for a plan to build the two new Shin Kori units.

The regulator, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, has today voted to approve KHNP's application for a construction permit for the units.

A consortium comprising South Korean construction companies Samsung C&T, Doosan and Hanhwa Construction was awarded a KRW 1.18 trillion ($1 billion) contract in June 2015 to build Shin Kori 5 and 6.

Construction of Shin Kori 5 is scheduled to begin this September, with that of unit 6 set to start one year later. Unit 5 is to enter commercial operation in March 2021 and unit 6 in March 2022.

The Shin Kori site currently hosts two OPR-1000 reactors (units 1 and 2), which began operating in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Two APR1400 have already been built at the site (units 3 and 4). Shin Kori 3 had originally been due to begin operating at the end of 2013, with unit 4 following in September 2014. However, their operation was delayed by the need to test the cabling. Unit 3 achieved first criticality last December and was connected to the grid in January. Unit 4 is expected to start operating in early 2017.

Two more of the 1350 MWe pressurized water reactors are under construction as units 1 and 2 of the Shin Hanul site in South Korea. Those units are expected to enter service in April 2017 and February 2018, respectively. Two further APR-1400 units are planned for the Shin Hanul site.

Four more APR-1400s are under construction at Barakah in the United Arab Emirates. All four are scheduled to be in operation by 2020.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News