[Editorial] Residents’ revolts

The Wolseong-1 nuclear reactor in Gyeongju ended its 30-year life span on Tuesday. Now its operator, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, is preparing to extend its operation by another 10 years, pending approval from the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.

It will not be the first time for KHNP to restart an old nuclear reactor with an expired lifespan instead of decommissioning it as originally scheduled. When the Kori-1 reactor ended its 30 years of operation in 2007, KHNP extended its life span by 10 years the following year after obtaining the assurance of its safety from the state nuclear watchdog and consent to its renewed operation from nearby residents.

But it will undoubtedly be much more difficult for KHNP to persuade residents to agree to restarting the Wolseong-1 reactor, now that public confidence has since waned so much in the safety of nuclear power generation. The city council, residents and environmental activists are now up in arms, demanding that the reactor be decommissioned as scheduled.

KHNP has no one but itself to blame for the mounting opposition to the reactor’s renewed operation, given that it was disclosed earlier this month that it used substandard components for the maintenance of nuclear power plants. Who wouldn’t harbor suspicions about the safety of power generation by the Wolseong-1 reactor as well as others for which unapproved components were used?

What KHNP needs to do to regain public trust is put safety before anything else in determining whether or not to restart the aged reactor. The huge amount of money spent for the reactor’s renewal, 700 billion won to be exact, should be secondary in making a decision about its fate. So should be the low level of the nation’s electricity reserves, which is posing the risk of wintertime blackouts. KHNP would flirt with a disaster if it decided to restart the reactor for one reason or another in disregard of its safety.

The first thing KHNP must do in this regard is to pledge not to restart the Wolseong-1 reactor unless its safety is assured. It will have to share information on safety checks by the state nuclear watchdog with residents, civic groups and others who demand it.

For their part, the city council, residents and other stakeholders will have to stop opposing the restarting of the reactor when its safety is assured by the safety checks that have been conducted for the past 35 months on commission from KHNP.