[Anchor]

Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Hyundai E&C) has entered a project to convert closing coal-fired power plants into Small Modular Reactor (SMR) facilities. The Samcheonpo Thermal Power Plant in Gyeongnam is considered a strong candidate for the site. However, growing concerns are emerging in the local community regarding Hyundai E&C's track record in projects such as the Gadeok New Airport and the Changwon Big Tree.

KNN reporter Choi Hyeok-gyu reports.

[Reporter]

This is the Samcheonpo Thermal Power Plant in Goseong, Gyeongnam.

Due to carbon neutrality policies, units 1 and 2 have already been shut down, and units 5 and 6 are also scheduled for closure.

Korea South-East Power (KOEN) has signed an agreement with Hyundai E&C to transition these coal power plants into next-generation SMRs.

The plan uses a retrofit method, replacing only the coal boilers with SMRs while maximizing the use of existing infrastructure.

Currently, the Samcheonpo Thermal Power Plant is the most likely candidate site.

While there are high expectations for pioneering the SMR market if realized, there are also significant concerns.

As the profitability of the SMR conversion at the Samcheonpo plant is key, voices in the local community are expressing fears that it might end up as another unfinished project.

This stems from Hyundai E&C's past actions in the region.

The company withdrew from the Gadeok New Airport site development project citing a lack of economic feasibility, which became a direct cause for the delay in the airport's opening.

In Changwon, instead of a landmark, they left behind the Big Tree, which is now considered an eyesore, and a bridge structure collapsed at the Busan Eco Delta City last month.

[Interview: Oh Moon-beom / Secretary General, Busan YMCA: Hyundai E&C has faced significant difficulties in building business trust, such as with the Gadeok New Airport construction project and the recent bridge collapse in Busan Eco Delta City. I believe it is highly concerning that they are participating in this SMR project when there is a lack of trust.]

Environmental groups are equally skeptical of Hyundai E&C.

They are firmly opposed to entrusting an SMR project, which has not yet been commercialized, to a company already embroiled in past safety controversies regarding nuclear power plants.

[Interview: Park Jong-kwon / Standing Chair, Gyeongnam Korea Federation for Environmental Movements: Hyundai E&C has built more than half of South Korea's nuclear power plants. In the past, there was an incident where holes were found in a containment building because less concrete was used 20 years after construction.]

As the SMR project is still in its early stages, local residents are looking at Hyundai E&C with cold eyes, fearing that the company might prioritize profits and bring anxiety rather than hope to the region.

(Photo: Yonhap News)

Reported by Choi Hyeok-gyu | Video by Ahn Myeong-hwan | Produced by KNN