By Ai Melani
I feel so grateful I have a chance to study in Korea, especially in the nuclear engineering field.
I came to KAIST in February 2008, entering the graduate program in the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering under professor Soon Heung-chang. The reason I study this at KAIST is that 40 percent of Korea’s electricity production comes from nuclear energy. Korean nuclear power plants are among the best in the world.
While studying in KAIST, the university has kindly arranged technical and scientific tours to the KAERI Hanaro Research Reactor, KINS and several nuclear power plants. When I entered these facilities I was impressed with their safety performances and world-class technology.
The exhibition hall of the facility was also totally amazing, never allowing visitors to feel bored for a single moment. It vividly displays the history of energy. Through interactive media such as videos and convenient booths, visitors can see movies and learn about nuclear energy.
I could also see how residents near nuclear plants had a sense of belonging to the facilities, far from feeling nervous about them. They loved the sites and became good neighbors. They said they love having a nuclear facility in their backyard.
I have also had the chance to learn in detail how Korea succeeded in winning a deal to export nuclear power plants to the United Arab Emirates, since KAIST provides training for UAE officials by developing joint programs and dispatching professors to Khalifa University.
We had the opportunity to interact with UAE students, who came to KAIST, discussing their preparations for the UAE’s first nuclear power plant. KAIST was also involved in several other projects related with the preparations of research reactor export to Jordan. After the Fukushima incident, we learned what happened in Japan through a meeting with a Japanese expert.
One of the most amazing experiences was the World Nuclear and Radiations Expo, held at KINTEX in Ilsan, north of Seoul. The expo featured the latest Korean technology in nuclear and radiation areas. The display explained nuclear radiation to visitors in a simple and interesting way.
Korea has taught me the important lesson that the nation would never stop its nuclear energy development despite horrible accidents abroad. Korea started its nuclear program in 1978, which has kept growing despite some international disasters, including Three Mile Island in the U.S. in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986 and more recently the Fukushima crisis. All of these have failed to keep Korea from increasing its budget, mainly for safety research and inspections to increase accident-free operations of the plants.
Recently Korea signed a major contract with India to provide a nuclear power plant system, a strong indication that a nuclear renaissance is happening in Korea even amid the aftermath of Fukushima.
I hope my home country, Indonesia, will also not stop its nuclear energy program after Fukushima, following Korea’s example. I believe Indonesia has sufficient capability to build its first nuclear power plant soon. I also dream that someday we will have our own technology and could export it to foreign countries, as Korea has done so successfully.
The writer is a Ph.D. student at KAIST majoring in nuclear engineering. She is also a nuclear safety reviewer at the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency of Indonesia (BAPETEN) and can be reached at ai_melani@kaist.ac.kr.