Greenpeace chief urges Yoon to reevaluate nuclear-focused decarbonization plan
Greenpeace chief urges Yoon to reevaluate nuclear-focused decarbonization plan https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220422004700315
All News 11:20 April 22, 2022 SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) — The leader of Greenpeace urged President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday to “reevaluate” his nuclear-focused decarbonization plan in a letter sent to him on the occasion of Earth Day.
Yoon’s transition team is pushing to modify the country’s carbon neutrality plans that the outgoing Moon Jae-in administration declared with a goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from the 2018 levels by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
The overhaul will likely include reversal of Moon’s nuclear phase-out policy and changes in energy mix.
“We urge you to reevaluate whether nuclear energy could be safe, fast, and affordable enough to achieve the 1.5 degree C temperature goal,” Greenpeace International Executive Director Norma Torres said in the letter.
She said, “Korea already has the highest nuclear power plant density in the world … we wonder whether further nuclear expansion will be acceptable by the public.”
Torres also said, “The unsolved nuclear waste problem is also a major issue you need to consider in your nuclear focused decarbonization plan.”
South Korea, instead, needs a new, ambitious energy transition strategy to employ more renewable energy coupled with an ambitious fossil fuel and nuclear phase-out plan, according to her.
“Needless to say, your term from 2022 to 2027 is a critical time to decide whether Korea will pull its weight and therefore contribute to the global mission to prevent disastrous climate change in time or not,” she said.
South Korea’s president-elect wants U.S. nuclear bombers, submarines to return
South Korea’s president-elect wants U.S. nuclear bombers, submarines to return, By Hyonhee Shin, SEOUL, April 6 (Reuters) – Advisers to South Korea’s president-elect sought redeployment of U.S. strategic assets, such as nuclear bombers and submarines, to the Korean peninsula during talks held on a visit to Washington, one of the advisers said on Wednesday……… (subscribers only) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/skoreas-president-elect-wants-us-nuclear-bombers-submarines-return-2022-04-06/
Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
Wildfire on South Korea’s east coast threatens nuclear and liquefied natural gas plants
Wildfire on South Korea’s east coast threatens nuclear and liquefied natural gas plants
ABC Sat 5 Mar 2022 Thousands of South Korean firefighters and troops are battling a large wildfire that has been tearing through an eastern coastal area and threatened a nuclear power station and a liquefied natural gas plant.
Key points:
- Around 7,000 personnel, 65 helicopters and 513 vehicles have been deployed to contain the fire
- President Moon Jae-in issued an alarm as the fire reached the perimeter of the seaside nuclear power plant
- The operator reduced production to 50 per cent and cut off some electricity lines as preventive measures
The fire began Friday morning on a mountain in the seaside town of Uljin and burned across more than 6,000 hectares to the nearby city of Samcheok………………..
Around 7,000 firefighters, troops and public workers as well as 65 helicopters and 513 vehicles, have been deployed to contain the fire, which after reaching Samcheok began moving southward back toward Uljin, driven by wind……………
President Moon Jae-in issued an alarm Friday afternoon as the fire reached the perimeter of a seaside nuclear power plant in Uljin, forcing the operator to reduce production to 50 per cent and cut off some electricity lines as preventive measures.
Hundreds of firefighters were deployed to the plant and kept the blaze under control before winds drove it northward toward Samcheok………… https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-05/south-korea-wildfires-threaten-nuclear-lng-plants/100885914
Wildfires threaten a nuclear power plant in South Korea
Thousands of South Korean firefighters and troops are battling a large
wildfire that has been tearing through an eastern coastal area and
threatened a nuclear power station and a liquefied natural gas plant.
ABC News 5th March 2022
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-05/south-korea-wildfires-threaten-nuclear-lng-plants/100885914
Sky 6th March 2022
Why joint US-South Korean research on plutonium separation raises nuclear proliferation danger
Why joint US-South Korean research on plutonium separation raises nuclear
proliferation danger by Frank N. von Hippel. South Korea, like the United
States, has long relied on nuclear power as a major source of electric
power.
As a result, it has amassed large stores of spent nuclear fuel and,
as in the United States, has experienced political pushback from
populations around proposed central sites for the spent fuel. South Korea
also has a history of interest in nuclear weapons to deter North Korean
attack.
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 13th Jan 2022
Why joint US-South Korean research on plutonium separation raises nuclear proliferation danger
South Korea presidential contender vows to seek nuclear-powered submarines, months after Australia’s Aukus deal.
South Korea presidential contender vows to seek nuclear-powered submarines, months after Australia’s Aukus deal, Guardian, 31 Dec 21,
Lee Jae-myung aims to counter North Korea threats and pledges to restart stalled talks between Pyongyang and Washington
South Korea’s ruling party presidential candidate said he will seek US support to build nuclear-powered submarines to better counter threats from North Korea and proactively seek to reopen stalled denuclearisation talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
In an interview with Reuters and two other media outlets, Lee Jae-myung also pledged to put aside “strategic ambiguity” in the face of intensifying Sino-US rivalry, vowing pragmatic diplomacy would avoid South Korea being forced to choose between the two countries………………
Lee said he will persuade the US to win diplomatic and technology aid to launch nuclear-powered submarines, which can operate more quietly for longer periods, amid renewed calls for building one in the military and parliament after North Korea test-fired a new missile from a submarine in October.
Lee cited the deal Australia struck under a trilateral security partnership with the US and Britain in September to build its own nuclear-powered submarines…………………………… https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/30/south-korea-presidential-contender-vows-to-seek-nuclear-powered-submarines-months-after-australias-aukus-deal
U.S., Japan, S.Korea to meet over N.Korea nuclear standoff
U.S., Japan, S.Korea to meet over N.Korea nuclear standoff, By Josh Smith SEOUL, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Officials from the United States, South Korea and Japan will hold a meeting on North Korea next week in Tokyo, South Korea’s foreign ministry confirmed on Friday.
The three countries have been discussing ways to break a standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, which have drawn international sanctions.
……………. U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has said it will explore diplomacy to achieve North Korean denuclearisation, but has shown no willingness to ease sanctions.
…… Pyongyang has also said it is open to diplomacy, but that it sees no sign of policy changes from the United States, citing issues such as sanctions as well as joint military drills with South Korea.Reporting by Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin in Seoul and David Brunnstrom in Washiington; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Alistair Bell https://www.reuters.com/world/us-japan-skorea-meet-over-nkorea-nuclear-standoff-2021-09-10/
South Korea developing a missile as powerful as a nuclear weapon
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S Korea developing missile as powerful as nuclear weapon, Al Jazeera, 3 Sept 21,
Three-tonne missile designed to destroy underground facilities by penetrating tunnels to effectively nullify nuclear launches. South Korea is in the final stages of developing a surface-to-surface ballistic missile as powerful as a tactical nuclear warhead, Yonhap news agency reported, as the country unveiled budget proposals aimed at bolstering its defences against North Korea.
According to the report published on Thursday, the new weapon can carry a warhead of up to three tonnes with a flight range of 350 to 400 km (217 to 248 miles).
The missile is designed to destroy underground missile facilities and bases by penetrating underground tunnels to effectively nullify nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) ahead of their launches. The report said it can also reach all areas of North Korea if fired from around the inter-Korean border.
The project went ahead after the full lifting of US-imposed restrictions on missile development……….
The missile would be the latest in a tit-for-tat conventional missile race between the two Koreas…………
The defence plan also seeks to expand Seoul’s presence in space with an eye to deploy a new radar system to monitor space objects by the early 2030s.
Meanwhile, its Navy also plans to build more 3,000-tonne or larger submarines to replace ageing frigates with new ones with improved operational and combat capabilities. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/3/s-korea-developing-missile-as-powerful-as-nuclear-weapon-report
Nuclear Weapons in South Korea? Not So Fringe Anymore.
Nuclear Weapons in South Korea? Not So Fringe Anymore.
Conservatives in South Korea’s upcoming presidential election support the country’s nuclear armament. This trend may be a sign that Washington might soon be dealing with an incoming administration who potentially champions a dangerous pro-nuclear policy.by William Kim The National Interest, 22 Aug 21, Don’t be taken aback if one of the hottest issues for South Korea’s upcoming presidential election is nuclear weapons—more specifically, the need for South Korea to possess its own. While North Korea has refrained from nuclear weapons testing since 2017, the progress they demonstrated in the past has moved the nuclear debate to the forefront of South Korean society. This year, Kim Jong-un’s remarks about strengthening the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) nuclear arsenal delivered at the recent Eighth Party Congress was enough for South Korean conservatives to once again stand in favor of developing their own nuclear weapons. With the South Korean presidential election in March 2022 quickly approaching, political discourse in Seoul about nuclear armament is a trend not to be ignored by the U.S. government.
Hawkish voices in favor of nuclearization in South Korea are not new. …………….. https://nationalinterest.org/feature/nuclear-weapons-south-korea-not-so-fringe-anymore-192122
South Korean fishermen protest against the dumping of Fukushima wastewater into the Pacific Ocean
S.Korean fishermen hold boat protests against Japan nuclear plans, Reuters 30 Apr 21, Hundreds of South Korean fishermen across the country held protests on Friday calling on Japan to reverse its decision to release contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.
About 800 fishermen participated in rallies at ports in nine cities, according to South Korea’s National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives.
At one port, at Gungpyeong on the west coast, fishermen held anti-Japan banners and chanted slogans such as “Withdraw Japan’s decision” and “Condemn irresponsible nuclear attack”. Twenty fishing boats with banners denouncing Japan’s decision sailed near the port.
“My father bequeathed this sea to me and I’m going to pass it on to my son, who is also fishing,” said Park Re-seung, chief of Yongdu-ri fishing village, who has worked in the fishing industry for 38 years. “Why is Japan doing this? How could they do such a bad thing against the sea? Don’t they eat fish?”…….
“For us, this issue is about making our living,” Park added. “If the customers continue to see the news of the water release, they wouldn’t be even buying fishes that we caught here.” https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/skorean-fishermen-hold-boat-protests-against-japan-nuclear-plans-2021-04-30/
S.Korean students shave heads in protest over Japan’s nuclear waste water plan
S.Korean students shave heads in protest over Japan’s nuclear waste water plan, Reuters, Hyun Yi 21 Apr 21, More than 30 South Korean college students shaved their heads in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Tuesday to protest Japan’s decision to release water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.
Police periodically dispersed crowds, who chanted and held placards, but did not stop the event from taking place, though there is an anti-pandemic ban on gatherings larger than 10 people.
The protesters who were shaved were draped in protective sheets emblazoned with messages condemning the Japanese plan and calling for it to be ditched.
One read: “The Japanese government should immediately cancel the plan to release the contaminated water.”…….. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/skorean-students-shave-heads-protest-over-japans-nuclear-waste-water-plan-2021-04-20/
South Korea raises with USA its worries about Fukushima water to be dumped into the Pacific Ocean
South Korea raises Fukushima concerns with U.S,
Yahoo News, April 18, 2021 As U.S. climate envoy John Kerry appeared in Seoul over the weekend to discuss global warming,
South Korea’s foreign ministry says it raised concerns to him over Japan’s plans to dump contaminated water from its defunct Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea…….
Under the plan, more than 1 million tonnes of water will be discharged from the plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Seoul has strongly rebuked the decision……
Kerry’s visit to Seoul precedes U.S. President Joe Biden’s virtual summit with world leaders on climate change, set for two days starting April 22. https://news.yahoo.com/south-korea-raises-fukushima-concerns-080908571.html
South Korea aims to fight, at International Tribunal, Japan’s plan to empty Fukushima water into Paific Ocean
S Korea aims to fight Japan’s Fukushima decision at tribunal, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/14/s-korea-aims-to-fight-japans-fukushima-decision-at-tribunal, 15 Apr S Korea
Moon Jae-in asks officials to look at ways to refer Japan’s Fukushima decision to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has ordered officials to explore petitioning an international court over Japan’s decision to release water from its Fukushima nuclear plant, his spokesman said, amid protests by fisheries and environmental groups.
Moon said officials should look into ways to refer Japan’s move to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, including filing for an injunction, spokesman Kang Min-seok told a briefing.
Japan unveiled plans on Tuesday to release more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water into the sea from the plant, which was crippled by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, starting in about two years after filtering it to remove harmful isotopes.South Korea protested strongly against the decision, summoning Koichi Aiboshi, Tokyo’s ambassador in Seoul, and convening an intra-agency emergency meeting to craft its response.
Moon also expressed concerns about the decision as Aiboshi presented his credentials, having arrived in South Korea in February for the ambassador’s post.“I cannot but say that there are many concerns here about the decision as a country that is geologically closest and shares the sea with Japan,” Moon said, asking Aiboshi to convey such worries to Tokyo, according to Kang.An aerial view shows the storage tanks for treated water at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan February 13, 2021 [Kyodo via Reuters]South Korea’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying it had raised similar concerns with the United States after the Department of State said Japan’s decision was “transparent” and in line with global safety standards.
The ministry also said it shared “strong regret and serious concerns” about the water’s planned release at a video conference on Wednesday with Chinese officials on maritime issues.
A series of protests against the move by politicians, local officials, fishermen and environmental activists took place in South Korea on Wednesday, including in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul and consulates in the port city of Busan and on Jeju island.
A coalition of 25 fisheries organisations staged a rally and delivered a written protest to the embassy, urging Tokyo to revoke the decision and Seoul to ban imports from Japanese fisheries.
“Our industry is on course to suffer annihilating damage, just with people’s concerns about a possible radioactive contamination of marine products,” it said in a statement.
The progressive minor opposition Justice Party and some 30 anti-nuclear and environmental groups called Japan’s move “nuclear terrorism,” and said they sent the Japanese embassy a list of signatures of more than 64,000 people opposed to the move collected from 86 countries since February.
The United States collaborates on nuclear pyroprocessing with South Korea.
Plutonium programs in East Asia and Idaho will challenge the Biden administration, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, By Frank N. von Hippel | April 12, 2021, ”…………………………………The United States collaborates on pyroprocessing with South Korea. The Idaho and Argonne National Laboratories also continue to promote the pyroprocessing of spent fuel. After the Clinton Administration shut down the Experimental Breeder Reactor II in 1994, the laboratory persuaded the Energy Department to continue to fund pyroprocessing as a way to process Experimental Breeder Reactor II spent fuel and blanket assemblies into stable waste forms for disposal in a deep underground repository. The proposal was to complete this effort in 2007. According to a review by Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, however, as of the end of Fiscal Year 2016, only about 18 percent of the roughly 26 metric tons of assemblies had been processed at a cost of over $200 million into waste forms that are not stable. (Since then, an additional three percent has been processed.)
During the George W. Bush administration, Vice President Cheney accepted Argonne’s argument that pyroprocessing is “proliferation resistant” and the two US national laboratories were allowed to share the technology with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute.
At the beginning of the Obama administration, however, a group of safeguards experts from six Energy Department national laboratories, including Argonne and Idaho, concluded that pyroprocessing is not significantly more resistant to proliferation than PUREX, the standard reprocessing technology originally developed by the United States to extract plutonium for its weapons.
In 2014, the US-Republic of Korea Agreement for Cooperation on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy was due to expire, but the negotiations on a successor agreement bogged down over Korea’s insistence that the new agreement include the same right to reprocess spent fuel as the 1988 US-Japan Agreement for Cooperation.
The compromise reached the following year was that the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute and the Idaho National Laboratory would complete their Joint Fuel Cycle Study on “the technical, economic, and nonproliferation (including safeguards) aspects of spent fuel management and disposition technologies.” If the United States could be convinced that the proliferation risks of pyroprocessing were manageable, the secretary of energy would give consent for South Korea to use the technology on its territory. The final report from the joint study is due this year.
Meanwhile, in 2017, Moon Jae-in was elected president of the Republic of Korea on a platform that included not building any more nuclear power plants in South Korea. Fast-neutron reactors and pyroprocessing obviously do not fit with that policy. This gives the Biden administration an opportunity to end a cooperative nuclear-energy research and development program that is contrary to both US nuclear nonproliferation policy and South Korea’s energy policy. The United States could propose instead a joint collaborative program on safe spent fuel storage and deep underground disposal……………https://thebulletin.org/2021/04/plutonium-programs-in-east-asia-and-idaho-will-challenge-the-biden-administration/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MondayNewsletter04122021&utm_content=NuclearRisk_EastAsia_04122021
Climate change probably increasing this problem – nuclear reactors halted because of jellyfish-like sea salps
Jellyfish-like organisms force South Korea to halt its 2 nuclear reactors, https://www.livemint.com/news/world/jellyfishlike-organisms-force-south-korea-to-halt-its-2-nuclear-reactors-11617794802580.htmlSea salps — gelantinous, marine organisms that look like jellyfish — have clogged water systems used to cool nuclear reactors in South Korea, forcing two units offline.
Sea salps — gelantinous, marine organisms that look like jellyfish — have clogged water systems used to cool nuclear reactors in South Korea, forcing two units offline.
It’s the second time in less than three weeks Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. shut the Hanul No. 1 and No. 2 units, after salps clogged water intake valves. The reactors, which each have a capacity of 950-megawatts, resumed operation last week before shutting again Tuesday.
Sea salps can link up into chains several meters in length and have been said to resemble a crystal chandelier drifting through the ocean. The organisms typically increase in number in June but that appears to have happened in March this year due to earlier-than-normal warm currents, said Yu Ok Hwan, a deputy director at Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology.
“We can’t say yet if the surge in salps is due to the changing climate or other factors,” said Youn Seok-hyun, a research scientist at National Institute of Fisheries Science. “It should be regarded as a temporary phenomenon unless we see a continuous increase over the next decade.”
The number of sea salps has been gradually rising in recent years, according to Chae Jinho, the head of Marine Environment Research & Information Laboratory. “Given the current trend, there’s a possibility we may see more of these shutdowns at reactors in the coming years,” he said.
South Korea has 24 operable nuclear plants with a combined capacity of more than 23 gigawatts.
The country isn’t the only one to have been forced to halt nuclear generation temporarily after sea life clogged water cooling systems. Electricite de France SA in January had to disconnect all four reactors at its Paluel nuclear plant on France’s north coast after fish got stuck in the filter drums of the pumping station.
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