Nuke reactor shutdowns fueling fears over power supply

Nuke reactor shutdowns fueling fears over power supply. December. 15, 2011 07:30. mint4a@donga.com.

A series of shutdowns at nuclear reactors have put the government on alert over the country`s power supply. The power reserve ratio, or the ratio between maximum power supply capacity and remaining power, fell to a single digit Wednesday.

The state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. announced that the 950,000-kilowatt Unit-3 reactor at the Kori Nuclear Power Plant came to a standstill Wednesday morning followed by the Unit-1 reactor`s halt in Uljin, North Jeolla Province on Tuesday afternoon.

"We`ve learned that the Uljin Unit-1 reactor had a problem with its vapor compressor facility," the company said. “We`re investigating what caused the stoppage of the Kori Unit-3 reactor.”

On Friday last week, a thermal power plant in Ulsan with a capacity of 400,000 kilowatts stopped operating. The suspension of the three facilities cost a combined 2.3 million kilowatts of power supply, nearly half the daily power reserve that the government plans to secure by February next year.

After the nation`s power reserve ratio fell to 8 percent around 9:50 a.m. Wednesday, Korea Electric Power Corp. CEO Kim Joong-kyum held an emergency meeting on emergency power supply measures. He urged the top 4,013 power-consuming businesses and organizations to refrain from using electricity.

The Knowledge Economy Ministry said, “Despite the two stoppages, Wednesday`s average power reserves stayed at 6.79 million kilowatts. When the weather gets colder, we plan to secure power by reducing demand from pre-contracted businesses, requiring large power consumers to cut usage by 10 percent, and limiting heating temperatures.”

A combined five nuclear reactors have stopped operating, including the Uljin and Kori reactors. The other three are under maintenance.

Over the last five years, 2007 saw 12 shutdowns of operations at nuclear reactors caused by malfunctions, followed by seven in 2008, six in 2009 and two in 2010. This year has seen seven malfunctions that led to halted operations.