A local court said Monday that it has sentenced an employee of the nation's oldest nuclear power plant to three years in prison on charges of stealing used components and colluding with a supply contractor to defraud the plant of large sums of money.
The 45-year-old employee of the Gori Nuclear Power Plant in Busan, 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was convicted of illegally taking disused valve parts out of the plant and letting an accomplice refurbish them for resale to the power plant, according to the eastern branch of the Busan District Court.
The employee, known only as Shin, and his accomplice were accused of painting the valves then reselling the parts to the plant, falsely saying they were new, on three occasions from September 2008 to October 2010, the court said, adding Shin pocketed some 1.95 billion won (US$1.71 million) through the fraud.
The court also ordered the accomplice, named Lee, to one and a half years in prison, suspended for two years, on charges of taking part in the fraud.
One of Gori's reactors temporarily lost power during a safety inspection in early February, prompting regulators to launch a probe into its operations.
The power cut did not lead to any accidents, but the plant authorities have come under fire for belatedly reporting the incident to the state safety commission. (Yonhap)