The construction deadline for units 3&4 of South Korea’s Saeul NPP has been extended again, which means unit 3 is unlikely to be completed this year. The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy announced a revision to the Implementation Plan for the Electric Power Development Project for Saeul 3&4. The construction period has been extended from 134 months, starting from September 2014, to 147 months, pushing back the deadline from October this year to November 2026.
The Ministry said additional time was needed to meet the more stringent standards for nuclear accident management. “Saeul Units 3 and 4 are the first nuclear power plants to which strengthened regulations, following the Fukushima nuclear accident and the Gyeongju earthquake, are applied,” a government official noted, adding “Aside from some delays in the delivery of some equipment, there are no issues with the construction itself, but it is taking time to receive approval for the accident management plan from the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.”
The accident management plan was introduced after the revision of the Nuclear Safety Act in 2015, following the Fukushima accident. It comprehensively covers the scope, strategies, implementation systems, evaluation, and training plans for managing not only facility failures at nuclear plants but also external disasters and various major accidents. The plan is extensive, and includes disaster response measures for neighbouring areas.
Construction began in July 2016, and since then the construction period for Saeul 3&4 has been extended several times. In 2017, construction was temporarily halted for three months for a public consultation following the government’s nuclear phase-out policy. In 2018, the project timeline was adjusted again with the introduction of the 52-hour work week system. Further extensions occurred in February 2021 and November 2022 due to the strengthening of seismic design standards after the Gyeongju earthquake and changes to wastewater treatment facility designs prompted by amendments to environmental laws.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) now expects Saeul 3 will be completed around February 2026 and unit 4 around November 2026. As of the end of March, construction progress for both units stood at 96.34%.
