hankyoreh

South Korea and China have agreed to expand cooperation in the development of atomic energy technologies and the building of commercial nuclear reactors, the Ministry of Science and Technology said Friday.

It said detailed plans to expand ties are to be discussed at the eighth South Korea-China Committee on Nuclear Energy scheduled for next month in Beijing.

"Science Minister Kim Woo-sik and Sun Qin, head of the China Atomic Energy Authority, agreed that the two sides could work together in such areas as high temperature gas-cooled reactors and future commercial power generation projects," a ministry official said. The two men met in Vienna on the sidelines of the 51st General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The official said the minister also outlined Seoul's willingness to share its know-how on environmental radiation detection and monitoring with Beijing.

Kim added South Korean companies had the technological capability to design and build safe, reliable nuclear reactors that could contribute to China's plans to increase its nuclear energy output. South Korea has 19 operational reactors that generate just under 40 percent of the country's total electricity output.

South Korean officials have said they want to play a role in the building of the 31 new nuclear plants that China plans to build by 2020 to meet its soaring power demand. China currently has four nuclear plants in operation.

Sun said that China wanted to work with South Korea in such areas as handling of nuclear wastes and high-temperature, gas-cooled reactors.
SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap)