nuclear-news

Most South Koreans against nuclear power – a growing election issue

Nuclear issue creeps up agenda for April election The Korea Herald, 2012-03-18  In an increasingly volatile race for parliament, nuclear power is creeping up the political agenda as opposition lawmakers seek to exploit growing safety jitters to retake power in next month’s vote.

Concerns about the safety of the nuclear industry are rife after news broke last week that plant operators had attempted to cover up a power cut at a reactor in Busan for over a month.

Though it caused no damage or radiation leakage, the incident appears
to be eroding public confidence in atomic energy, which had already
withered in the aftermath of last year’s nuclear disaster in Japan.
Environmentalists and opposition lawmakers lambasted the government
for creating a “moral hazard.”….
“The government may have been able to avoid overheating the reactor,
but failed to avert a meltdown of public trust and the principles of
truth and responsibility,” the former prime minister said Friday.

A poll released on March 6 showed that more than six out of 10 Koreans are against the government’s plans to boost the use of nuclear power. Nearly 80 percent of 1,100 respondents said they oppose extending old reactors’ lifespan.

These figures are significantly higher than at any point in the past
several years on a nationwide basis. The survey was complied by Wise
Research Co., a polling firm, and commissioned by the Korean
Federation for Environmental Movement, a civic group.

On Wednesday, some 200 residents in Busan and adjacent Ulsan held a
rally calling for the shutdown of the distressed Gori-1 reactor.
Similar protests with up to 1,000 took place a week earlier in Seoul
and Samcheok, Gangwon Province, marking the first anniversary of the
Fukushima meltdown. ..

Hiding a problem could lead to a bigger problem. Ethics plays a
pivotal part in atomic power — high technology without ethics does not
avail.” said Hwang Il-soon, a nuclear energy system engineering
professor at Seoul National University.

The anti-nuclear sentiment poses grave challenges to President Lee
Myung-bak and his Saenuri Party, who are already grappling with rising
voter disillusionment in the run-up to the presidential election in
December.
Lee, who is barred by law from seeking reelection, has been pushing
the sector as a growth driver and a viable source of energy. He
aspires to transform the country into a leading reactor exporter
following a watershed deal with the United Arab Emirates in 2009.

Government officials are growing uneasy especially with the Nuclear
Security Summit in Seoul just a week away. About 50 heads of state and
top officials from multinational bodies are slated to discuss issues
like the peaceful use of atomic materials and measures to combat
nuclear terrorism on March 26-27.

March 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, South Korea