By Yi Whan-woo
Employees at a nuclear power plant in Busan removed radioactive materials from the reactor without taking proper safety measures, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The Busan District Prosecutors’ Office revealed the new allegation against five employees who have been indicted for their attempt to conceal a power blackout accident in February.
The revelation adds to the list of neglected safety concerns by the five at the Gori Nuclear Power Plant amid rising public attention on the use of nuclear energy.
The employees including four manager-level workers decided to cover up the accident when the Gori No. 1 reactor suffered a 12-minute shutdown on Feb. 9 evening following a circuit breakdown because of an electricity glitch.
The employees ignored signaling an emergency alarm required under the law. Nor did the accused file a report to their supervisors. They even omitted mentioning the incident on the reactor’s daily operation records.
“They were afraid of taking responsibility for mishandling the nuclear reactor and the criticism from the public upon media reports,” an investigator said.
The problems still remain for the workers, as they had to deal with the nuclear materials inside the then-troubled reactor. The radioactive substances were to be discarded with a back-up power supply system working for safety reasons. It turned out the system also malfunctioned at that time, but the employees went ahead and removed the hazardous materials on Feb. 10.
“A lack of an emergency power supply doesn’t necessarily lead to disasters. Such a back-up system, however, always must be maintained to prevent any possible damage and those reckless workers simply shirked these duties,” an investigator said.
The accident at the plant under the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), a state-run energy company, was exposed following a report from a Busan city lawmaker in March.
Government inspectors conducted a safety check-up and found that the facilities were back in operation by then. But the emergency power supply system was still unstable, according to the prosecution.
The incident triggered a separate probe by the prosecution related to corruption at the plant, such as money-for-contract between other employees of the plant and sub-contractors .
It also sparked uproar from the public, including anti-nuclear activists who conducted a simulation test in case radiation leaked from the plant.
1 | US urged to respect Korea's position amid US-China chip war |
![[INTERVIEW] Korean chef aims to change Hong Kong's dining scene](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/d6481286e4b64c5b872403eec446f509.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] 'No more part-time jobs': VANNER talks about life after winning 'Peak Time'](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/79128864ba1643498f9a49fc7a82f2f1.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
