The government will build two more nuclear power plants, raising the nation’s total to 24.

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy approved a request by the state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company to build two nuclear reactors in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. The power plants have power generation capacity of one million kilowatts each.

Construction for each reactor will be completed in 2011 and 2012 respectively. More than four trillion won will be injected into the project.

Currently, 20 nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 17-point-seven million kilowatts are in operation, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the nation’s total power and ranking the nation sixth in the world in terms of atomic power generation.

Two more atomic power plants in addition to the envisaged plants in Gyeongju are planned to eventually be built.