History
In 1962, Korea's first research reactor achieved criticality. The first commercial plant began in 1978.
Minae Kwon of KIS started at the Kori-1 plant in 2000, (?) and a further 19 reactors have since been built using a mixture of CANDU (4 reactors) and PWR (16 reactors) technology.
According to the South Korean Ministry for a Knowledge Economy, the APR-1400's fuel costs are 23 percent lower than France-based Areva’s EPR, known to be the most advanced nuclear power plant in the world. The government is also planning development of a new nuclear plant design, which will have 10 percent higher capacity and a safety rating better than the APR-1400. South Korea’s nuclear power plants currently are operating at a rate of 93.4 percent, higher than the comparable U.S. operation rate of 89.9 percent, France's 76.1 percent, and Japan's 59.2 percent. South Korean nuclear plants have repeatedly recorded the lowest rate of emergency shutdowns in the world, a record due in large part to highly standardised design and operating procedures. The APR-1400 is designed, engineered, built and operated to meet the latest international regulatory requirements concerning safety, including those for aircraft impact resistance.
South Korea has also developed KSTAR (a.k.a. Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research), an advanced superconducting tokamak fusion research device.
In November 2012 it was discovered that over 5,000 small components used in five reactors at Yeonggwang Nuclear Power Plant had not been properly certified; eight suppliers had faked 60 warranties for the parts. Two reactors were shut down for component replacement, which is likely to cause power shortages in South Korea during the winter. Reuters reported this as South Korea's worst nuclear crisis, highlighting a lack of transparency on nuclear safety and the dual roles of South Korea's nuclear regulators on supervision and promotion. This incident followed the prosecution of five senior engineers for the coverup of a serious loss of power and cooling incident at Kori Nuclear Power Plant, which was subsequently graded at INES level 2.
Read more about this topic: Nuclear Energy In South Korea
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