It All Happens in a Flash

“Safety-related action” automatically shuts down South Korea’s nuclear reactor

The auto shutdown at the 587-megawatt Kori No. 1 reactor occurred on Thursday raising the tally of nuclear reactors closed to six and increasing the probability of power blackouts this winter, Reuters reported.

The reactor was commissioned in 1978, and had recently returned online after a 180-day overhaul, the report said.

South Korea’s peak demand could exceed 81,000 MW this winter, some 5,000 MW short of total supply capacity, according to industry data.

Of the other 5  nuclear reactors currently offline, three are shut due to fake safety certificates,  a fourth awaiting a license extension beyond its 30-year life span, and a fifth is shut down for maintenance until 2014.

The Kori Nuclear Power Plant is located in Gori, near Busan (metro population: 8.2 million), South Korea’s second largest metropolis after Seoul. It is owned and operated by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, a subsidiary of KEPCO.

Kori Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1. Source: KNHP [KHNP is a subsidiary of  Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), accounting for about 40% of South Korea’s electric power supply, both nuclear and hydro.

Fake Parts, Bogus Cetificates

South Korean nuclear regulators discovered about a thousand more fake parts supplied for their nuclear plants with bogus quality certificates in 2012.

• In November 2012, eight companies were found to have submitted 60 fake  certificates that covered more than 7,000 parts mostly used in the two reactors that were reportedly shut.

• S. Korean government is planning an additional 11 nuclear reactors, to add to its existing fleet of 23.

• About 12,500 tons of nuclear waste filled more than 70 percent of the country’s  storage capacity at reactor sites, as of June 2012.

Related Links

• Probability of a Nuclear Disaster – by Country
• Nuclear Power

• S. Korea: Nuclear Waste Storage Facility Reaching Full Capacity Posted on November 20, 2012
• Japan Underestimating Nuclear Fallout Risks: U.N. Posted on November 27, 2012