FOCUS - SKorea launches probe into nuclear accident
Date: 07-Oct-99
Country: SOUTH KOREA
Author: Jean Yoon
"We have sent an investigation team to the plant to find out precisely
the cause behind the accident," a spokesman for the Ministry of Science
and Technology told Reuters.
Wolsung nuclear power plant said on Tuesday 22 workers were exposed to
radiation on Monday from a leak of heavy water during maintenance of its
water cooling pump. They were not harmed.
A spokesman for the plant said the leak, which took place at around 7
p.m. (1000 GMT) at Wolsung nuclear power reactor No.3 in the east coast
province of Kyongsang, some 270 km (169 miles) from Seoul, was stopped
immediately.
The spokesman said about 45 litres of heavy water leaked but was
contained within the plant. The maximum level of radiation was 440
millirem, nine percent of the legally safe radiation exposure, he added.
A rem is a measure of potential damage to a living organism and about
600 rem is considered a fatal dose. One rem is equal to 1,000 millirem.
The ministry spokesman said it was the eighth such accident in South
Korea from a leak of heavy water since 1984.
Despite the plant's assurances, local environmental groups protested
outside the government complex in Seoul on Wednesday, blaming the
authorities for lax safety management of nuclear plants.
The groups also demanded the government allow a public inquiry into the
accident and remove all nuclear reactors from South Korea.
Local media said residents living near the Wolsung plant also expressed
their concern and anger over the incident.
The leak follows neighbouring Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident last
Thursday when workers mixing a uranium solution triggered a nuclear
chain reaction at a uranium processing plant in Tokaimura, about 140 km
(90 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
Fifty-five people, mainly plant workers and emergency personnel who
responded to the Tokaimura accident, were exposed to the radiation and
three remain in serious condition.
South Korean government officials said after Japan's incident that they
did not anticipate similar accidents in Korea and that they planned to
stick to an ambitious nuclear power programme.
State-run power monopoly Korea Electric Power Corp runs 14 nuclear
reactors in Korea with a combined capacity of 12,020 megawatts,
supplying about 40 percent of the country's electricity.
By 2005, the government plans to complete another six reactors, adding
5,700 megawatts capacity, and 10 more, adding 11,200 megawatts, by 2015.
South Korea, like Japan, favours nuclear power due to low production
costs and its lack of natural power resources.
