The Nuclear Power Public Deliberation Committee for the Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand (Chairman Eun Jae-ho, the “Committee”) held its third meeting on the afternoon of October 21 at the Korea Power Base Center in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. 

The Committee approved a proposal to form an Expert Committee comprising nine experts: three in the environmental field, three in nuclear energy, and three neutral experts. However, as environmental organizations did not respond to the request for expert nominations, the Committee directly nominated environmental experts at its own discretion. The Expert Committee will hold its first meeting on October 27 to review and provide feedback on the deliberation questionnaire for the Citizen Participation Group and the direction for preparing the information booklet, both of which were prepared by the Committee. The Committee plans to finalize these materials based on the review.

The Committee also discussed how to structure the questionnaire on specific topics for deliberation by the Citizen Participation Group, including the role of nuclear power, considerations for fulfilling such role, and the range of nuclear power’s share in electricity generation. The Committee made it clear that all discussions would be based on the national greenhouse gas reduction targets and the First Basic Plan for Renewable Energy. In addition, the draft deliberation questionnaire was prepared in accordance with two principles. First, questions must not be leading. Rather than presupposing an increase or decrease in nuclear power, all issues would be framed in terms of “what level should be achieved?” Second, questions must not be presented in a format that could be interpreted as a simple yes-or-no vote. Instead, respondents would be asked to specify ranges, such as the lower and upper limits for the share of electricity generation by each energy source.

Meanwhile, the Committee decided to hold a three-day, two-night deliberative discussion session for the Citizen Participation Group from December 11 to 13.

Chairman Eun Jae-ho said, “It is regrettable that environmental organizations have decided not to participate in this public deliberation process. The balance of public deliberation is maintained through the fairness of the information provided to citizens and the discussions themselves.” He added, “With experts who have worked in the environmental and nuclear energy fields for many years now involved, the Committee will take responsibility for preparing deliberation materials and conducting discussions that do not lean toward either side. We will keep the door open to public participation until the very end.”

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