South Korea Weighs Nuclear Options as AI-Related Power Demand Is Estimated at 25–30 GW

South Korea is preparing for a material increase in power demand from AI-related loads, semiconductor manufacturing, transport electrification and electric heating. The country’s climate, energy and environment minister has estimated that AI-related electricity demand alone could add 25–30 GW.

The government is expected to publish an updated long-term national energy plan next month, with a planning horizon to 2040. The potential construction of additional nuclear reactors is among the issues under consideration, although no decision has been made on the number of reactors required; the matter remains under expert review.

As a scale comparison, meeting the full additional 25–30 GW demand solely with nuclear generation would be broadly equivalent to the installed capacity of about 20 reactors built to current Korean design standards. This is a conditional comparison, not a reactor-build programme or a government commitment.

The projected load growth is also tied to the expansion of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix manufacturing capacity, alongside new AI data centers. The companies have committed to build new facilities in south-western South Korea as part of a government-announced megaproject. The project’s stated scale is KRW 800 trillion, with the source also citing an approximate US-dollar equivalent of $590 billion; its expenditure structure, allocation among participants and actual spending were not specified. Its completion target has reportedly been accelerated from around 2045 to the early 2030s.

For data-center operators and infrastructure investors, the key issue is whether generation and transmission development can proceed ahead of large industrial and digital loads. Consideration of further nuclear generation could indicate a longer-term focus on centralised supply for major industrial and digital demand, but it does not yet constitute an approved reactor construction programme.