Last week’s referendum in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, on a government plan to construct a nuclear power plant in the eastern city raises a host of concerns.
The first one is that a local government is demanding the scrapping of a state project on the basis of a referendum, which, in fact, has no legal grounds.
City officials said that 67.9 percent of the eligible voters cast ballots, with 85 percent of them opposing the plan to construct a nuclear power plant in the city. While this is an outright majority, the problem is that the referendum was not legally sanctioned.
Even the National Election Commission rejected the city’s request to administer the poll. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy also made it clear that the referendum has no legal validity and that the state project is not subject to approval by local referendum.
Moreover, questions were raised about the referendum itself as only 47 percent of the voters who had cast ballots in the June 4 local elections took part. Based on this, some insist that the opposition rate could stand at less than 40 percent.
Putting figures aside, the referendum set a bad precedent, with a local government conducting an illegitimate referendum on a state project to bolster its “not in my backyard” campaign.
The project had already been endorsed by the city government and council in 2010, which was followed by the central government’s designation of the city as the site of a new nuclear power plant. City officials said at the time that nearly 97 percent of residents supported the project.
It is apparent that more residents of Samcheok turned against nuclear power generation after the Fukushima disaster in 2011 and after new safety concerns were raised at Korean nuclear power plants, especially the cases of forged safety certificates for parts at nuclear power plants.
Mayor Kim Yang-ho, an independent who was elected in the June 4 local elections on a pledge to scrap the nuclear power plant, is leading the campaign to revoke the plan. Gangwon Gov. Choi Moon-soon, of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, is supporting the campaign.
Kim and Choi deserve criticism for acting irresponsibly. If governors and mayors who are elected every four years are allowed to renounce key projects decided while their predecessors held office, we would be unable to maintain facilities few want to have nearby ― like nuclear facilities, military bases, prisons and incinerators.
The government plan calls for the construction of two 1,500-MW reactors in Samcheok and another two in Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang Province, by 2030.
What’s at stake is not only the stable supply of electricity but also the fate of many more state projects which face opposition from local residents.
Government officials should make more efforts to persuade residents and local officials in Samcheok and Yeongdeok. For instance, they could devise more incentives for the localities in return for hosting the nuclear power plants.
This is all the more important because Korea, which now relies on 23 nuclear reactors in four plants to supply about a third of its electricity, plans to build 10 more reactors in addition to five under construction by 2035.
The government has already decided to cut the nation’s reliance on nuclear power to 29 percent of the total power supply by 2035, down from a previous 41 percent.
But the Samcheok referendum should remind the nation of the need to strive to keep reducing its reliance on nuclear power and expand its use of environmentally friendly energy resources.
