POSCO is urging the government to allow nuclear power purchase agreements (PPAs) to support the steel industry’s shift from coal-based blast furnaces to hydrogen-based production. Converting one 3.5 million-ton furnace would require 210,000 tons of hydrogen and 10.5 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, slightly more than Daejeon’s 10.3 TWh consumption last year and equivalent to about 1,200 megawatts of continuous supply. Electricity could account for as much as 35% of final steel production costs once hydrogen-based steelmaking is fully deployed. POSCO has proposed covering the refurbishment costs and project risks of restarting the idled Wolsong No. 1 reactor in exchange for long-term purchase rights, rather than receiving power diverted from operating reactors. It also wants qualifying power-intensive industries, including petrochemical producers and data centers, to participate under shared eligibility rules. Current rules allow corporate PPAs mainly for renewable power, while large nuclear plants are excluded. Government officials said the proposal requires scrutiny of participating industries and how refurbishment, grid-connection and regional-support costs are allocated without shifting them to ordinary consumers.