By Kim Tae-gyu
Knowledge Economy Minister Hong Suk-woo apologized for the power cut at a nuclear reactor, which was not reported properly for more than a month after the incident took place in early February.
In a statement, Hong said Wednesday that he will come up with stern punitive measures for those responsible for the power failure at the Gori-1 reactor near Busan.
Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) President Kim Jong-shin said that he will take responsibility if necessary as the agency is in charge of operating Korea’s 21 nuclear reactors.
``I do apologize to people for the belated report of the power outage. They have to make an immediate report on even small incidents under the relevant law but they did not,’’ Hong said.
``In line with the government policy of putting safety first, the nuclear safety authority is carrying out an investigation. When the results are in, we plan to come up with appropriate steps including punishing responsible officials.’’
Hong said that the Gori-1 reactor lost power on February 9 after its main electricity supply broke down and the auxiliary generator did not kick-in. The situation lasted 12 minutes.
But he said that the reactor had been shut down for six days for maintenance and external power was available so there were no serious safety problems.
KHNP CEO Kim said that he learned of the fact on March 11 and reported the case to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the nuclear safety authorities the next day.
Kim guessed that his underlings kept the news to themselves because he was announcing various plans to improve nuclear safety on February 9, the day the accident took place.
In addition, he said that the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit later this month seems to have affected the poor decision to keep the incident quiet.