Power, water supply won't delay national chip fab push: Environment Minister

SEJONG — Korea's environment minister Kim Sung-whan reaffirmed that the government would spare no effort to prevent water and power shortages from delaying the nation's semiconductor fab expansion. 

"I believe it's the Environment Ministry's role to make sure power supply doesn't become an obstacle for the country," Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment Kim Sung-whan, said during a press conference at the Sejong Government Complex on Tuesday.

"Whether to build new nuclear plants, and if so, how many, is the biggest question facing us, and starting this month, September will be a critical month for gathering input from the public and experts," Kim said. "Everyone agrees electricity is necessary, but no one wants high-voltage transmission lines running through their neighborhood. We need a process to narrow that divide."

Concerns over whether the country can supply enough power and water have mounted since Samsung Electronics and SK hynix announced plans to build four semiconductor fabs in the Honam region, which encompasses the southwestern Jeolla provinces.

Powering them is estimated to require 6.3 gigawatts — equivalent to the output of four or five Korean-model nuclear reactors, each generating 1.4 gigawatts.

Nuclear power has become essential to supporting the chip cluster, with some experts even weighing an extension of reactor operating permits — from the current 10 years to 20 — while recalculating actual operating periods from the date a reactor's original design life expires.

On water supply, Kim previously said managing the combined 1.5 billion tons of storage capacity across eight dams on the Seomjin and Yeongsan rivers should be sufficient to meet the needs of the four planned fabs.

Kim also said the ministry is considering regionally differentiated industrial electricity rates.

"We'll unveil a proposal at a public hearing next week, gather public opinion on it, and finalize it in coordination with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety," he said.

The government plans to finalize its draft of the 12th basic plan for electricity supply and demand around October.

"Given the recent surge in additional power demand driven largely by semiconductors and data centers, we'll start by reassessing our demand forecasts," Kim said.

"As we phase down coal, we need to consider which power source will replace it, how far to scale up renewables, and how much battery storage or pumped hydro capacity we'll need to offset conflicts between renewables and nuclear output in spring and fall," he said. "Gas-fired power will inevitably increase to some degree, so we'll also need to design the full pathway for reducing the resulting carbon emissions to reach carbon neutrality by 2050."

BY SARAH CHEA   [[email protected]]