A nuclear reactor automatically shut down Sunday due to problems of power supply, only 19 days after beginning its commercial operation, triggering concerns over power shortage in the season of high electricity demand.
The accident took place at the New Wolsong 1 reactor in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province at around 11:00 am as its power supply system did not work properly, the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) said.
Officials said an investigation was underway to learn the exact cause of the malfunction but claimed that there is no danger of a radiation leak.
“The shutdown is the level zero, according to the nuclear and radiological event scale by the International Atomic Energy Agency,” a KHNP official said. “It has nothing to do with the safety of the nuclear plant or radiation risks.”
But he said that the operation of the reactor will resume only after two phases ― the KHNP completes its investigation, which may take two or three days, and the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission approves its resumption.
The 1 million kilowatt nuclear reactor went into full operation on July 31, but as it was sidelined, worries sprout up that power shortage might hit the nation at a time when electricity reserves have fallen to an alert level several times of late.
The Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) has already issued an alert several times as the demand for electricity may be increasing due to hot summer weather after the peak vacation season ends at the end of August.
Midway through last September, the nation suffered unprecedented rolling blackouts due to unseasonable heat waves, which ended up inconveniencing households and causing industrial damage across the country.
In order to prevent recurrence of the disaster, the Seoul administration has pulled out all the stops to jack up its capacity of providing electricity while trying to deter rising energy demand.
Currently, Korea operates 20 nuclear reactors out of a total of 23, which supply about 30 percent of its overall electricity consumption. But due to fears of a power shortage, the government considered resuming operation of reactors earlier than originally scheduled.
