South Korea said yesterday it will build 10 more nuclear power plants by 2030 and increase its renewable energy resources as part of a 100-billion-dollar plan to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.
South Korea, a highly industrialised nation with few natural energy sources, already uses nuclear plants to generate nearly a third of its power needs but hopes to increase that to nearly 60 percent.
It will create more renewable energy resources to meet the country's growing power needs and protect the environment, the National Energy Committee (NEC) announced.
The NEC called for a dramatic increase in the amount of energy South Korea gets from renewable sources including solar and wind power and biofuels, from 2.4 percent of total consumption today to 11 percent by 2030.
By 2012, at least a million homes in South Korea will rely on renewable energy sources, it said.
The plan would save the country 34.4 billion dollars in energy import bills by the target year and help create 950,000 new jobs, energy authorities said.