Is there any purpose to delay restarting Kori-2?

Jeong Jae-jun
 
The writer is a professor of mechanical engineering at Pusan Nationwide College.
 
 
 
The Nuclear Security and Safety Fee (NSSC) postponed its choice on whether or not to increase the operation of the Kori Nuclear Energy Plant Unit 2 on Oct. 23. It was the second delay following the same choice in September. Consequently, the reactivation of Kori-2, which has been offline for 2 years and 7 months because of the expiration of its working license, will likely be pushed again additional. Nonetheless, the NSSC accepted the plant’s Extreme Accident Administration Plan, which has been below evaluation for greater than six years.
 

The picture reveals the Kori Unit 2 reactor, heart, and the Kori Unit 1 reactor, proper. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

 
A continued operation license permits a nuclear plant to run for an extra 10 years after its unique working interval expires, offered that outdated gear is changed or upgraded and security is completely evaluated. The accident administration plan is a complete report detailing how to answer extreme accidents, and have become legally required in 2016. Whereas worldwide organizations advocate such plans, no different nation has made them necessary by legislation. That is typically cited as proof that Korea enforces the world’s strictest nuclear security requirements. Though the plan is just not legally a prerequisite for license renewal, it has been a major hurdle. With its approval, that barrier is now gone.
 
Kori-2 started industrial operation in April 1983, ran for 40 years, and has been below upkeep because it was shut down in April 2023. Korea Hydro and Nuclear Energy stated it invested greater than 170 billion received to improve techniques for continued operation in 2017.
 
Extending the lifetime of nuclear vegetation is neither uncommon nor unsafe. Vegetation which have operated safely for 40 years are sometimes deemed dependable and, as soon as key techniques are upgraded, can proceed to run for a number of extra many years. The financial advantages are clear. In response to the OECD Nuclear Power Company, electrical energy generated from extended-operation vegetation prices about 42 p.c lower than constructing and working new reactors. As of 2024, 238 of the world’s 439 nuclear reactors are working below prolonged licenses.
 
 
In the USA, nuclear vegetation are initially licensed for 40 years, with two 20-year renewals attainable. Of its 94 reactors, 86 have already prolonged their licenses to 60 years of operation. Of those, 51 reactors are older than Kori-2. Second renewals — permitting as much as 80 years of operation — are additionally being granted.
 
A symbolic instance is Three Mile Island (TMI) Unit 1 in Pennsylvania. It sits subsequent to TMI Unit 2, the location of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. historical past in 1979. Though TMI-1 was completely shut down in 2019, it’s now being ready for restart in 2028 after refurbishment. Microsoft has signed a 20-year energy buy settlement with the plant’s operator to safe electrical energy for its increasing knowledge facilities. This displays a broader actuality of the AI period: Securing carbon-free, steady, 24-hour electrical energy is changing into pressing.
 
France, Canada, and Switzerland are following comparable paths. Switzerland operates all 4 of its reactors below prolonged licenses. Beznau Unit 1, which started working in 1969, is the world’s oldest lively reactor at 56 years — 14 years older than Kori-2 — and remains to be thought-about protected and economical.
 

This image taken on July 9, 2019, reveals a normal view of Switzerland’s Beznau nuclear plant close to Dottingen. Switzerland’s Beznau nuclear plant, one of many oldest on this planet, will maintain operating till 2033, its operator introduced on December 5, 2024, as environmentalists argued it ought to be shut down ″instantly″. [AFP/YONHAP]

 
Korea, in contrast, has no reactors at present working below prolonged licenses. Whereas Kori-1 and Wolsong-1 had been briefly prolonged earlier than being shut down below the Moon Jae-in administration, the method for Kori-2 is just not technically unprecedented. Compared internationally, Kori-2 is just not even thought-about an previous reactor. With the accident administration plan accepted, the NSSC ought to make a swift choice primarily based on science and details, with out extreme warning.
 
Industrial electrical energy costs in Korea have risen greater than 70 p.c over the previous three years. Even so, nuclear energy stays the most cost effective supply of electrical energy in comparison with coal, pure fuel, hydropower or renewables. Changing Kori-2 with LNG energy would price an extra 500 billion received per yr and emit extra greenhouse gases. Nuclear power stays a pillar of each the financial system and the atmosphere.
 
Extending Kori-2’s operation would additionally assist maintain Korea’s nuclear trade ecosystem. In that sense, it presents not solely financial and environmental advantages but additionally industrial resilience — really a case of gaining a number of benefits with one choice.