‘Japanese Nuclear Accident’s Impact on Korea Minimal

’KINS president makes a prediction; surveillance
on the safety of Korean nuclear facilities is reinforced

The nuclear power accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is forecast to have minimal impact on Korea, said Yun Choul-ho, president of the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS).
Yun told the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club on March 22, “The release of radioactive materials from the failed nuclear power plants has so far not affected the environment in Korea. A simulation showed that the future developments of the accident will have minimal impact on Korea.” Currently, Korea is keeping all territory under surveillance by connecting 70 on-line radiation monitoring systems around the nation, the KINS president said. He noted that reactors in Korea are designed to give enough room to maneuver in consideration of the largest potential impact on them by earthquakes according to geological seismic surveys.
The nuclear power units are designed to operate under 0.2g PGA (peak ground acceleration), and the APR1400s, being built for nuclear power facilities for the United Arab Emirates, under a PGA of 0.3g.
The Uljin Nuclear Power Plant, the closest at 1,164 km away from the epicenter of the 9.0-magnitude tremor, was measured at 0.0006g PGA, causing negligible impact on Korean nuclear power plants, Yun said.
The design of reactors gives it enough room for maneuvering in terms of the impact on reactors by tsunamis of the past and the biggest predicted ones.
The latest nuclear accident indicates the need for reexamining earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters that occur in higher-than-expected proportions, he said.
Yun said KINS will do its utmost to ensure the safety of nuclear power facilities in Korea from a heightened sense of urgency by learning lessons from the ongoing nuclear power accident in Japan. nw

Yun Choul-ho, president of the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) explains the nuclear accident in Japan during a meeting with the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’s Club.

Photo by courtesy of the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’s Club