Korea luring Japanese nuclear experts: Mainichi

Nuclear experts might seek work overseas amid the tough restructuring of the Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, which was destroyed by a strong earthquake and resultant tsunami, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Thursday.

Korea, China, the United States and Southeast Asian countries have been seeking nuclear experts in their efforts to construct nuclear power plants, in contrast with Japan which is seeking to scrap them, the report said.

In particular, Korea has shown strong interest in nuclear experts from Tokyo Electric. In summer last year, Korean officials invited a nuclear power worker from the company to dinner to encourage him to move to a corporation here involved in nuclear power generation, it said.

Korea’s demand has become higher recently as President Lee Myung-bak has resumed negotiations over the construction of nuclear power plants in Turkey and the government allowed the construction of a new reactor at the Ulchin No. 2 Nuclear Power Plant, last December.

Mainichi related how Samsung became world’s top electronics maker, overtaking Japanese firms, based on recruiting skilled workers from the neighboring country in the 1990s, saying that Korea is now eager to introduce advanced Japanese nuclear technology. The newspaper said that Samsung Electronics upgraded its technology from Sony engineers via Panasonic, a joint venture set up by the two in the 1990s.

Mainichi also warned that the leakage of plutonium handling technology will pose a serious threat to the nuclear security of Japan as the technology, which Tokyo Electric has, is same as that for manufacturing nuclear weapons.

The Japanese public has shown a cool attitude towards workers of Tokyo Electric due to the poor handling of the destroyed nuclear power plant and it will be inevitable for a large number of skilled workers to retire from the nuclear power generation firm in the process of restructuring initiated by Tokyo, according to the newspaper.

An estimated 300 workers quit Tokyo Electric last year, excluding retirements, more than triple the yearly average, due to the accident at the power plant in Fukushima. But that number is expected to further increase, it reported.