The nation’s oldest reactor in Kori to resume operation


The nation’s state-run power company issued a power shortage warning on Monday, with electricity consumption soaring amid high temperatures.

Korea Electronic Power Corp. issued the warning at 11:05 a.m., less than an hour after it announced an electricity shortage alert at 10:17 a.m.

The warning followed a large-scale nationwide blackout on Sept. 15 last year.

The government said that Monday’s electricity demand exceeded the ordinary level and the nation’s power reserves could fall below 1 million kilowatts without action taken.

“Compared to July 23 when electricity consumption hit a record high, the power demand on Monday soared by more than 3 million kilowatts,” said Knowledge Economy Minister Hong Suk-woo.

“Temperatures stayed above 33 degrees Celsius for 10 consecutive days while tropical nights also continued for six days. That may be the main reason.”

Following a sharp decline in power reserves, the ministry reduced 700,000 kilowatt of energy demand by decreasing voltage to an extent not to affect electricity quality.

A warning is issued when the country’s power reserves fall into the 2-3 million kilowatt range for more than 10 minutes, and requires the power company and the government to take steps to reduce demand.

In the meantime, the ministry also announced on Monday it would resume operations of the nation’s oldest nuclear power plant Kori-1, which was shut down due to technical glitches in March.

After preparations this week, the Kori-1 plant is expected to restart electricity production on Aug. 12.

The ministry said it could reach an agreement with local residents opposed to the resumption after 11 meetings to assure them of its safety.

The Kori-1 plant, which began operation in 1978 in the northern part of Busan, completed its scheduled life span in 2007. But it was granted a 10 year extension in 2008 after an inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The plant, however, caused safety concerns in February when one of its two reactors temporarily lost power during a safety check.

Even though the power cut did not lead to any damage, public uproar was triggered after it came to light that engineers had tried to cover up the mishap.

The operator Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co requested that the IAEA conduct a separate safety inspection in June, which found no problems with the emergency generator used at the Kori-1 and other systems.

In a statement released on Monday, Minister Hong promised that the ministry will complete follow-up measures involved in the reform plan of the plant and the operator within the year.

“We have confirmed that the nuclear power plant and the community should develop together after the Kori-1 case. We will improve systems to offer more realistic benefits to local residents,” he said.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)