Gori nuclear reactor to be inspected

By Kim Tae-gyu

Following the recent shutdown of the No. 1 reactor of the Gori nuclear power plant in Busan, the country plans to review the safety of the country’s Gori nuclear facility in response to nationwide concerns.

The Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), which operates the nation’s 21 nuclear reactors, said Thursday that both government and private experts will team up in order to intensively examine the 33-year-old No. 1 reactor.

``The nation’s 21 nuclear reactors went through inspections of late in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster in Japan. But this time around, the review will be about just the No. 1 Gori reactor,’’ KHNP President Kim Jong-shin told a press conference.

``The facility will be back in operation only after receiving the approval of the inspectors, which will involve those from the state-run Korea Institute of Nuclear safety and other entities.’’

Last week the No. 1 Gori reactor suffered from a temporary shutdown after a circuit-breaker burned out because of an electricity overload. It was the first malfunction of the facility since 2005.

But people were worried because the reactor was supposed to stop running in 2007, 30 years after its commercial operations started in 1977. It was reactivated after state approval with a fresh timeline of 2017.

Kim did not set the date for the decision on whether to put the Gori No. 1 reactor back online. But he doesn’t seem to expect the reactor to be closed after the inspections.

`` The Gori No. 1 reactor is one of the best-performing nuclear facilities in the world and the circuit-breaker malfunction was not a big accident. It would not be good to shut it down,’’ Kim said.

The circuit-breaker at issue was supplied by Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s primary shipbuilder. Kim said that the KHNP plans to seek compensation from Hyundai for the glitch.