Public deliberation on the national nuclear energy policy in Korea – Small successes but bigger challenges

Abstract

Successful transition of a nation's energy policy requires widespread engagement from all sectors of the society, including the public. The government of the Republic of Korea conducted a deliberative polling to decide whether to resume nuclear power plant construction in response to the conflicts in the construction of the new Shin-Kori nuclear power plants in 2017. This study reports the findings of a quantitative analysis of the process and the results of the deliberation. Although the respondents supported the resumption of the construction, they favored the reduced use of nuclear power in the future. Despite the intensive deliberation process, most people did not change their initial opinions; rather, they tended to make judgments based on their values, especially their political ideologies. However, the Korean deliberation process did show signs of small success. Although the participants did not change their original opinions completely, they became more sympathetic to the opinions of the other side of the debate, suggesting the possibility of a democratic energy transition.