China’s purported plan to float a nuclear power plant off the east coast of Shandong facing South Korea has sparked fiery protest from Koreans fearing potential nuclear accidents and the contamination of radioactive waste in Korean waters.

The Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC) is seeking to install the country’s first floating commercial nuclear reactor in the waters off the city of Yantai in East China’s Shandong Province this year, according to China’s state-run English newspaper Global Times on Wednesday.

The shores of Yantai are part of the Yellow Sea, which rests between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula.

A floating nuclear power plant is a self-contained site with one or more nuclear reactors sitting on a special offshore platform at sea. It is used to power remote areas like coastal islands or offshore oil and gas drilling sites. Details like the scale of the planned plant have not yet been revealed but reports predict it to be about one-tenth the size of a typical onshore nuclear power station.

The project reportedly has been in the works since 2010. Once Chinese authorities give the green light, construction can start this year for operation in 2021. The plant is estimated to cost around $2 billion, according to Chinese media.

Once completed, China would be the second country in the world to have a floating nuclear power station after Russia.

Environmentalists like Greenpeace, however, have derided the floating power station as “Chernobyl on ice” and a “nuclear Titanic.” South Koreans also balked at the news, lambasting that “any offshore nuclear accident would wreak havoc on Korea.”

Contrary to South Korea, which has been trying to wean itself off nuclear power under President Moon Jae-in’s new energy policy, China has been building more nuclear power stations to reduce its dependency on fossil fuel and meet the rising electricity demand at home. It is now the world’s third-largest nuclear fueling country, with 46 power plants in operation and 11 more underway. To further advance its nuclear ambitions, Beijing plans to deploy 100 nuclear plants by 2030 to overtake the U.S. as the world leader in nuclear power production.

By Ryu Young-wook and Kim Hyo-jin

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]