Wolsong nuclear power plant
Wolsong nuclear power plant is a nuclear power station in South Korea with 3 operating units totalling 1,812 MW gross. The site has 4 units on record in total.
Units
| Unit | Status | Type | Model | Gross MW | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 2 | PHWR | CANDU 6 | 599 | 1997 | |
| Unit 3 | PHWR | CANDU 6 | 624 | 1998 | |
| Unit 4 | PHWR | CANDU 6 | 589 | 1999 | |
| Unit 1 | Retired | PHWR | CANDU 6 | 683 | 1983 |
Wolsong nuclear power plant in context
By gross operating capacity Wolsong nuclear power plant is the 8th largest of 8 operating nuclear sites in South Korea, holding 7% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 105th of 172 worldwide.
Its operating units started up between 1997 and 1999; the median unit is 28.0 years old, older than the median of 27.0 in South Korea.
The 4 units with both construction and grid dates on record took 4.0 to 5.2 years (median 4.7) from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1990s is 8.0 years.
The nearest other tracked nuclear sites are Shin-Wolsong nuclear power plant (1 km), Saeul nuclear power plant (45 km) and Shin-Kori nuclear power plant (45 km).
3 operating units are rated differently now from their design net capacities: Unit 2 -12.7%, Unit 3 -9.0% and Unit 4 -14.2%.
Build time by unit
| Unit | Construction start | Grid connection | Years | Fleet median, same decade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | 1977 | 1982 | 5.2 | 7.3 (1980s) |
| Unit 2 | 1992 | 1997 | 4.5 | 8.0 (1990s) |
| Unit 3 | 1994 | 1998 | 4.0 | 8.0 (1990s) |
| Unit 4 | 1994 | 1999 | 4.8 | 8.0 (1990s) |
Nearest tracked nuclear sites
| Site | Country | Distance | Operating GW gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shin-Wolsong nuclear power plant | South Korea | 1 km | 2.1 |
| Saeul nuclear power plant | South Korea | 45 km | 3.0 |
| Shin-Kori nuclear power plant | South Korea | 45 km | 2.1 |
How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.
Earthquakes nearby
Loading the latest USGS check…
| Time (UTC) | Mag | Depth | Epicentre | Distance |
|---|
Magnitude 4.0 and above within 200 km of Wolsong nuclear power plant's listed coordinates, past 30 days. This is distance, not shaking: it says nothing about damage or any change in operation. Every plant.
| Location | North Gyeongsang, South Korea |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 35.7111, 129.4743 |
| Elevation | about 25 mabove sea level |
| Setting | On the sea coast, 0.7 km from the water |
| Region | Eastern Asia |
| Units by status | Operating: 3 Retired: 1 |
Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.
| Owners | Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co |
|---|---|
| Operators | Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power |
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Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data