Proceedings of the Conference Morocco-Korea Cooperation: A Lever for Afro-Asian Development (MKC 2025)

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Nuclear Energy, Economic Growth and Ecological Footprint in South Korea: An ARDL Approach (1990–2021)

Authors
Mouna Khellat1, *, Hindou Baddih1
1Laboratory of Economic Sciences and Public Policy, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco
*Corresponding author. Email: mouna.khellat@uit.ac.ma
Corresponding Author
Mouna Khellat
Available Online 20 June 2026.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6239-680-7_3How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Environmental Kuznets Curve; ecological footprint; GDP; Electricity from nuclear
Abstract

South Korea possesses one of the world’s most modern nuclear reactor fleets, and its “Green Deal” policy projects a significant expansion of nuclear energy capacity. In the aftermath of several significant nuclear accidents, public perception of nuclear energy technologies and facilities has emerged as a critical factor influencing national energy and electricity policymaking, particularly in countries that rely on nuclear power as a primary energy source. This study examines the interrelationships between energy, economic, and environmental factors specifically fuel energy structure, electricity generation from nuclear sources, GDP per capita, and ecological footprint from 1990 to 2021 using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation model of South Korea. The findings reveal a stable long-run cointegration relationship among the variables. Crucially, nuclear energy deployment exhibits a significant negative long-run elasticity on ecological footprint, confirming its role in decarbonizing the energy sector.

Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the Conference Morocco-Korea Cooperation: A Lever for Afro-Asian Development (MKC 2025)
Series
Atlantis Highlights in Social Sciences, Education and Humanities
Publication Date
20 June 2026
ISBN
978-94-6239-680-7
ISSN
2667-128X
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6239-680-7_3How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Mouna Khellat
AU  - Hindou Baddih
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/20
TI  - Nuclear Energy, Economic Growth and Ecological Footprint in South Korea: An ARDL Approach (1990–2021)
BT  - Proceedings of the Conference Morocco-Korea Cooperation: A Lever for Afro-Asian Development (MKC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 22
EP  - 40
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-680-7_3
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-680-7_3
ID  - Khellat2026
ER  -