Six out of 10 people in Korea think the country needs to increase nuclear power generation. About half of residents in nuclear power plant areas shared the same view.
On the 21st, according to the 2025 energy public awareness survey by the Korea Energy Information Culture Agency, 59.2% of the general public answered that "Korea should increase its nuclear power generation."
Specifically, 25.5% of the general public said it should be increased "much more," and 33.7% said it should be increased "slightly."
Among residents of areas with nuclear power plants (Gijang County, Ulju County, Gyeongju, Yeonggwang County, Uljin County), 48.4% agreed with the same question.
This survey also included questions on continued operation of nuclear power plants. As a result, 74.1% of the general public and 71.4% of residents in nuclear power plant areas said they support continued operation. Along with the perceived need for nuclear power, half of these respondents also said they are fine with a nuclear power plant being built in the area where they live.
Continued operation means that when a plant whose initial operating license period has expired is confirmed to have no safety issues by meeting the safety standards set by law, it obtains permission for an operational change and keeps running. In other words, a majority of the public expressed support for expanding nuclear power and for the continued operation of existing plants.
Support for building a nuclear power plant within one's residence was tallied at 49.9% among the general public and 58.9% among residents in nuclear power plant areas.
On the need to install the next-generation Small Modular Reactor (SMR), 75.5% of the general public said they agree. The response rate among residents in nuclear power plant areas was similar at 74.1%.
Looking across the overall power mix (energy mix), public perception was not focused only on nuclear power. When asked which sources should be expanded in the future, the most common choice was renewable energy (45.8%), followed by nuclear power (37.6%), natural gas (13.9%), and coal (1.4%).
As for reasons for the choices, many respondents picked renewable energy because it is "environmentally friendly," while nuclear power was mainly chosen because it has "high economic efficiency."
Among residents in nuclear power plant areas, nuclear power (50.0%) was the most common choice, followed by renewable energy (32.7%), natural gas (14.4%), and coal (1.4%).
While environmental friendliness was weighed more than economic efficiency in choosing power sources, acceptance of the resulting expense burden appeared somewhat limited.
The proportion of respondents who said electricity rates should be raised was 19.2% among the general public and 4.0% among residents in nuclear power plant areas. This contrasted sharply with the response rate of the expert group (48.3%).