A number of news outlets have reported today that South Korea has offered to supply North Korea with electricity via transmission lines in return for an agreement to stop developing nuclear weapons capability. Here is the BBC’s version of the story – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4674785.stm.
Apparently, South Korea believes that this offer of transmission line delivered electricity is a better choice than completion of the two Light Water Reactors promised to North Korea in 1993. The construction of those reactors has been repeatedly delayed; more than $1 Billion has already been spent with little to show for the effort.
According to the U. S. Energy Information Agency’s South Korea page, the country has existing plans to build 12 additional nuclear power plants before 2015. KEPCO, the state owned electrical power company, has commissioned 4 domestically designed and built plants since 1998, and their track record continues to improve.
It seems like fission by wire is a good choice for aleviating a tense situation on the Korean Peninsula
