South Korea's Kori nuclear power plant escapes typhoon's fury

Operations are returning to normal at South Korea's Kori Nuclear Power Plant after its operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. cut run rates ahead of Typhoon Hinnamnor's landfall, KHNP officials told S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Typhoon Hinnamnor, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit South Korea, moved out of the country early morning Sept. 6 after battering major industrial sites with floods and power outages.

Shin Kori-1 with a capacity of 1,000 MW on the southeast coast halted power generation Sept. 6 to run at less than 80% capacity. Kori-2 (650 MW), Kori-3 (950 MW), and Kori-4 (950 MW) cut power output and were operating at under 30% run rate, KHNP officials said Sept. 7.

KHNP is KEPCO's wholly owned subsidiary, which owns and operates Korea's 21 nuclear and 27 hydro-electric power plants.

LNG demand

The power cuts did not affect the country's LNG demand as the peak summer season has passed, sources said.

South Korea imported 22.784 million mt of LNG in the first six months of 2022, down 1.5% year on year, according to Korea Customs Service data.

South Korea's LNG import bills have climbed along with many other Asian counties due to higher crude oil and LNG spot prices following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Customs data showed that South Korean LNG importers, including state-run Korea Gas Corp. and private power utility and city gas provider SK E&S, paid about $1.93 billion for shipments in June, up from $1.44 billion a year ago, S&P Global reported earlier.

South Korea has been strengthening its partnership with other countries to plug any potential energy shortages.

South Korea's Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang held talks Sept. 5 with Oman's Energy and Minerals Minister Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi on bilateral energy supply chain cooperation and participation in Oman's energy infrastructure projects.

"Amid skyrocketing LNG prices from rising uncertainties in the international gas market, securing the Korea-Oman energy supply chain is critical, and close cooperation should be maintained," the South Korean minister said Sept. 5.

Platts, part of S&P Global, assessed JKM for October at $47.701/MMBtu Sept. 7.