nuclear-news

Secrecy over nuclear problem, opposition to nuclear in Korea

Korea Hydro didn’t report the blackout and deleted it from its records before an outside inquiry discovered it, the committee said last month. The government is investigating why the incident wasn’t reported immediately, ….

 Almost 80 percent of respondents opposed extending the life of older reactors in a February poll of 1,100 people by the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement.

Nuclear Halt in South Korea Seen Boosting Coal: Energy Markets, Bloomberg News By Sangim Han and Yuriy Humber on April 13, 2012  “…..Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEP) (KEP), the nation’s electricity monopoly, says it may boost coal purchases to replace nuclear power generation if the Kori 1 reactor remains shut and the government fails to extend the lifespan of a second reactor.

Kori 1 was closed for safety checks on March 13, five weeks after a power failure caused the temperature of its core to rise. The operating permit for Wolsong 1 expires in November…… Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., a unit of Korea Electric that operates the Kori plant, announced its power failure on March 12, a day after the first anniversary of Fukushima. A 12- minute power loss occurred on Feb. 9 and sent the core temperature to 58.3 degrees Celsius (137 degrees Fahrenheit) from 36.9 degrees, according to the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.

Korea Hydro didn’t report the blackout and deleted it from its records before an outside inquiry discovered it, the committee said last month. The government is investigating why the incident wasn’t reported immediately, ….
Political Protest
South Korea held parliamentary elections on April 11 and has a
presidential election in December. Local citizen groups including the
Kyungjoo Environment Movement Association say they will campaign
against Wolsong 1’s extension. Almost 80 percent of respondents opposed extending the life of older reactors in a February poll of 1,100 people by the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement.

“We should shut down old reactors like an old, used car should go to a
junkyard,” Kyungjoo Environment Movement’s co- chairman Kim Ik Joong
said. “Extending a lifespan would only boost the chance of things
getting out of order.”

South Korea, which gets about a third of its electricity from nuclear
generation, started trial operations in 1977 and currently has 21
reactors with seven more under construction. The 587-megawatt Kori 1
unit and the 679-megawatt Wolsong 1 account for about 7 percent of the
nation’s nuclear capacity. Kori 1 won a 10-year license extension
starting in 2008…..
the idling of Kori 1 and the lack of a deadline by regulators for a
decision on its resumption echoes the situation in Japan, where
reactors have failed to resume operations since the earthquake or
after scheduled maintenance amid public concern over atomic safety.

Hiromitsu Ino, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, who
acts as a government adviser on nuclear reactor stress tests, in
January called for all reactors over the age of 40 to be closed due to
wear and tear and the inadequacies of older plant designs to
incorporate modern safety features.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-13/nuclear-halt-in-south-korea-seen-boosting-coal-energy-markets

April 14, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | opposition to nuclear, South Korea