Korea's nuclear decommissioning market — what the 500-trillion-won headline actually means

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 23:56:00 +0900

In June 2025, Korea’s nuclear regulator approved the dismantling of a commercial power reactor for the first time. The reactor is Kori-1, near Busan, Korea’s first commercial nuclear plant: it made electricity from 1978 for close to 40 years and was permanently shut down in 2017. Within days, Korean headlines were announcing that “a 500-trillion-won decommissioning market has opened.”

Nuclear Industry on EnergyNote

Korea's nuclear decommissioning market — what the 500-trillion-won headline actually means