Four areas were in contention but residents of Gyeongju were 90 percent in favour in a decisive ballot, higher than the other candidate sites, officials said.

"The residents themselves have made a final choice for the site. The majority's desire should not be denied or undermined," Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Hee-Beom told a press conference.

The government has been hunting for a nuclear waste site since 1986 but has fallen foul of protests from environmentalists.

Gyeongju will receive economic incentives including a 300 billion wonmillion dollar) one-off state subsidy.

The government also promised to relocate the headquarters and other research facilities of the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power to the Gyoengju area.

South Korea runs 20 nuclear power plants, meeting 40 percent of the country's total electricity need. It plans to build eight more by 2015, the commerce, industry and energy says.

Until now it had no permanent radioactive waste treatment facility and has been using a temporary storage site that will be full by 2008.

The Gyeongju site will store low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste, such as gloves and clothing from nuclear power plants as well as X-ray byproducts from hospitals, it said.

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