A parliamentary debate on Friday over shutting down two controversial nuclear power plants failed to produce a bipartisan consensus, with lawmakers divided along party lines during a session of the ongoing government audits.

Lawmakers from the main opposition party New Politics Alliance for Democracy strongly favored closing the Kori 1 and the Wolsong 1 power plants. Legislators from the governing Saenuri Party advocated a different approach, saying shutting down the two plants could cause other problems, such as higher electricity bills and an increased dependence on foreign energy imports.

The debate reflects South Korea’s ongoing policy dilemma of how to disengage itself from nuclear energy, the preferred source of electricity since 1978, when the Kori 1 power plant began commercial operation.

Nuclear power provides resource-poor South Korea with a cheap energy source, but it also poses long-term safety concerns. Public trust in nuclear power declined in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, and after a 2013 scandal involving illicit supply contracts of faulty parts for nuclear power plant equipment.

Kori 1 and Wolsong 1 have been at the forefront of the policy debate. The Kori 1 plant’s original closing date was in 2007, but was extended to 2017, and two years have passed since the Wolsong 1 plant’s closing date of 2012.

“It’s been 30 years since Kori 1 was built,” NPAD Rep. Chun Soon-ok said. “I don’t think the authorities can even guarantee that the plant is as safe as the Fukushima plants.”

“But we also have to consider the fact that closing down the plants would mean a much higher electricity bill for all of us,” Saenuri Rep. Kim Dong-wan said.

Kim added that Kori 1 and Wolsong 1 provided 2.8 and 3.3 percent of South Korea’s energy needs.

Both parties agreed, however, on strengthening safety standards at the country’s nuclear power plants.

South Korea has 23 nuclear power plants in operation and plans to increase its total nuclear capacity twofold in the next two decades.

By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)