Korean PM to ask for speedy approval of idled new reactor Shin Hanwool 1

[Photo by Lee Seung-hwan]

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said on Wednesday that he will personally ask the chief of nuclear safety commission for operation approval of Shin Hanwool 1 that had been pushed back indefinitely under Moon Jae-in administration’s nuclear phase out.

“I believe there is a problem of idling a newly built nuclear facility,” Kim said, during a National Assembly hearing on Wednesday. “A prime minister, however, does not have the authority to grant permission… I will ask the chief of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission for approval.”

It is misleading conception that nuclear reactors won’t be generating power under phase-out policy, he added.

Nuclear reactors will stay as primary energy sourcing for the country over next 60 years.

Kim’s comments came after the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission held a meeting earlier this month to discuss operation approval of Shin Hanwool 1 but was not able to reach a conclusion. The impasse came despite the agenda had been discussed in 12 rounds of commission meetings since November last year.

According to the commission, the agenda has been taken out from discussion at the coming meeting on Friday.

The Shin Hanwool 1 – located in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province – is a home-developed nuclear power plant APR1400 that began construction in 2010. Construction of the facility has been 99 percent complete in August last year.

The Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the United Arab Emirates that broke ground in July 2012, two years after Shin Hanwool 1, is built with the same technology. It was approved for operation approval in March and launched commercial operations in April.

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