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There are growing concerns about the safety of Korea's nuclear power plants after more
reactors were shut down Tuesday for containing unapproved parts that had fake safety certificates.
And with summer approaching, the other question on everyone's mind is -- how much will the
shutdowns cost?
Ji Myung-kil has the story. Members of the ruling Saenuri Party and the Ministry of Trade,
Industry and Energy met at the National Assembly early Wednesday to address the potential for
a summer power shortage brought about by the reactor shutdowns.
They agreed to survey all of Korea's nuclear reactors and penalize the contractors that
supplied the faulty parts. and they vowed to take steps to manage the nation's power
supply ahead of the summer season.
Korea operates 23 reactors, including 10 that are sitting idle, which supply around a third
of its total electricity.
All three recently shuttered reactors will have their faulty parts replaced and undergo
maintenance, which is expected to take six months.
Also high on the agenda at Wednesday's meeting was the cost of the latest reactor shutdowns.
The government estimates that putting the Shin Gori Reactor numbers one and two in Busan.
and the Shin Wolseong Reactor number one in North Gyeongsang Province offline for six
months will cost the country more than two billion U.S. dollars.
The state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation says that if a one-million kilowatt nuclear
reactor is shut down,.the purchase cost for electricity for ONE day will come to an extra
3-point-7 million dollars.
If a second reactor is shut down, the amount spikes to 7-point-6 million.
That figure jumps to 11 million dollars if a third reactor is suspended.
Based on these figures, if the Shin Gori Reactors 1 and 2 and Shin Wolseong Reactor 1 are offline
until August, the cost to purchase extra electricity will amount to roughly 680 million dollars.
If operations are halted for six months, the cost goes up to more than two billion dollars.
The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission shut the three reactors down because the control
cables, which act as a communication line to the control system in an emergency, were
given fake certificates, despite their failure to pass safety tests.
Ji Myung-kil, Arirang News.