ed Duplicate reactor project

Ministries should stop turf war over nuclear policy

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has succeeded in developing a system-integrated modular advanced reactor (SMART) by investing 170 billion won ($160 million) since 1994. The reactor is likely to receive approval for commercialization this year, opening the way for exporting the model as early as next year.

SMART is a small-sized reactor with a generating capacity of 330 megawatts. Just as other modular reactors, SMART is manufactured at a plant and brought to the site fully built. This reactor can be constructed on smaller sites to provide stable power to towns with around 100,000 residents.

The ministry is making efforts to help export the SMART model to some 20 countries needing small-sized reactors. The model has already received a positive evaluation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

But the problem is that the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy is now pushing for the development of its own model. In March, the ministry announced a plan to devise a small modular reactor (SMR) by investing more than 200 billion won over the next five to seven years. In many respects, SMR is quite similar to SMART.

It is hard to understand why the ministry has decided to initiate the SMR project. Certainly, the duplicate investment runs the risk of wasting time, energy and taxpayers’ money, even though SMR may be a more up-to-date model than SMART.

The ministry does not have to launch its own prototype. It would be better for the economy ministry to cooperate with the science and technology ministry to upgrade the SMART model, instead of developing a new model with little distinction.

We have to point out that the Lee Myung-bak administration has shown a lack of inter-ministry coordination for nuclear reactor development. The government has been too focused on winning international bids for nuclear power plants. A Korean consortium won a bid in 2009 to build four nuclear plants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

It appears that the two ministries are waging a turf war over who should take the initiative in the nuclear power industry. In 2009, then-Knowledge and Economy Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said that his ministry should take charge of all the nation’s nuclear research and development. His remarks angered the technology ministry which has led nuclear policy for over 50 years.

The economy ministry cannot deflect criticism that it has jumped on the reactor wagon amid a worldwide nuclear renaissance, despite the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. The ministry had better scrap its own plan in order to avoid duplicate investment. Instead, it must step up cooperation with the technology ministry to make SMART a success and explore overseas markets for the Korean prototype.