The use of unapproved parts in nuclear power plants for the past 10 years is yet another indication of their operator’s insensitivity to nuclear disaster risk. Moreover, it was not its own safety check but an outside tip-off that brought the case to light.
Since 2003, eight suppliers have faked warranties for 234 types of parts and provided Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., the operator of 23 nuclear reactors in the nation, with 7,682 unapproved items. More than 5,200 have been put to use, 99 percent of them in two reactors in South Jeolla Province. KHNP had no option but to shut down the reactors for the replacement of the unauthorized parts.
The temporary halt in operation, which the administration says is scheduled to continue until year-end, will result in a power shortage. The possibility of blackouts cannot not be ruled out. But this should be of secondary concern when nuclear safety is taken into consideration.
The administration was quick to reassure the public that the reactors were safe, saying that none of the parts with fake warranties were core ones. It said that they were shut down in a preventive measure and that no radiation had leaked from them.
But no residents in the neighborhoods of nuclear reactors can be blamed if they harbor suspicions about safety. They may suspect that they were deceived when KHNP assured them about safety each time a reactor was shut down for one reason or another. Human errors in operation, bribery cases involving KHNP officials and nuclear power plants and other safety-compromising actions have been reported not infrequently in the past.
One way to ally the residents’ concerns about nuclear safety will be for the Board of Audit and Inspection to conduct a wide-ranging safety check on all nuclear reactors in operation. Of course, the state watchdog will need outside technical assistance for the proposed safety inspection.
Those found to put nuclear safety at risk deserve no leniency from the law-enforcement authorities and the court. A case in point is a recent decision by a trial court to send a parts provider convicted of bribery to prison, instead of imposing a fine of 20 million won, as demanded by the prosecution. The court was right when it said the bribery case involving KHNP officials was a serious criminal offense as it could compromise nuclear safety.
