South Korea Is The Fourth-Largest Consumer Of Nuclear Energy According To The CIA's World Factbook

South Korea's reliance on nuclear energy is the fourth largest in the world, the United States' Central Intelligence said Monday.

According to the CIA's World Factbook, South Korea has a power generation capacity of 94 gigawatts, the 13th largest in the world. The country also generates 517 terawatts of electricity annually, putting the country in 11th place. The country placed 10th in terms of energy consumption at 482 terawatts.

The figures represent combined power generated by thermal and nuclear power plants, hyrdi-electric dams and renewable energy sources, Korea Times noted Monday.

However, the data also shows that Asia's fourth largest economy relies heavily on atomic power to meet its high energy demand.

26.8 percent of energy in South Korea is generated from nuclear reactors, putting the country behind France, Armenia and Belgium. France is the country with the highest reliance on nuclear energy with 48.8 percent of its power produced by reactors. Armenia followed with 34.3 percent and Belgium with 30.4 percent.

While most countries are investing in renewable energy to minimize greenhouse gas emissions, South Korea is lagging behind on the trend. The nation renewable ranks in the bottom pile in terms of renewable energy usage.

Meanwhile, South Korea's energy ministry has changed its energy policy to cut back the country's reliance on nuclear energy to 29 percent of its overall power supply by 2035, Scientific American reported Jan. 13, 2014.

South Korea's 34 nuclear reactors produces one-third of its electricity. The country is planning to add 11 more reactors by 2024, five of which are already under construction.

The development of nuclear energy in South Korea was brought to life under former president Park Chung Hee's administration. Then president Park believed that nuclear energy would benefit South Korea's economy because of its dual-use characteristics, The Diplomat noted. Moreover, the present state of Northeast Asia's geopolitics makes it difficult for South Korea to abandon its nuclear capacity.

nuclear energy would be important and rewarding for the future of South Korea, because of nuclear technology's dual-use characteristics.  

"South Korea, because of its heavy-industry oriented industrial structure and relatively large population is a major consumer of electric power," a source from the local energy industry opined. "The country needs to strive for a more sustainable 'energy mix' in the future."