[Interview] Wolseong-1 vulnerable to Fukushima-style nuclear disaster

Posted on : 2017-02-09 16:08 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Expert witness says that for Wolseong-1’s lifespan to be extended, it needs the latest technological specifications
Ha Jeong-gu (fourth from the left)
Ha Jeong-gu (fourth from the left)

“For the lifespan of Wolseong-1 to be extended, it needs to adhere to the latest technological specifications, but none of those were implemented. That leaves the reactor vulnerable to a serious disaster such as what happened at Fukushima,” said Ha Jeong-gu, 62, a former senior safety analyst for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) during an interview with the Hankyoreh on Feb. 8. Ha was a key technical witness in the ruling by the Seoul Administrative Court on Feb. 7 that South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) must cancel the permit it granted for an operational extension that allowed Wolseong-1 to remain in operation.

“It’s true that South Korea has achieved technological independence in the area of nuclear power and that it has gone to a great effort to develop it. But Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power didn’t abide by a number of regulations and arbitrarily used back-of-the-envelope calculations in its effort to extend the lifespan of Wolseong-1,” Ha said.

Ha, who majored in mechanical engineering, worked for the Kori and Yeonggwang nuclear power plants and for the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) before being sent to the AECL on an assignment that lasted for a year and a half. Ha brought this experience to bear when he oversaw the permits for Wolseong reactors 2, 3 and 4. In Jan. 2000, he moved to Canada to take a job at the AECL, after which he was an expert involved in a project to extend the lifespan of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station, which is a CANDU 6-type nuclear reactor, just like the Wolseong reactors. Ha retired in May 2014 and is currently living in the Canadian province of Ontario.

On Feb. 4, Ha delivered key testimony for the plaintiffs in the twelfth hearing of a lawsuit asking the Seoul Administrative Court to force the NSSC to cancel the operational adjustment permit that extended the lifespan of Wolseong-1. Ha‘s testimony figured prominently in the verdict that the court rendered on Feb. 7: “In order to extend the lifespan of Wolseong-1, the equipment ought to have been upgraded according to the latest technological standards in Canada’s R-7 regulation, but the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety did not apply the latest technological standards when it reviewed Wolseong-1‘s safety assessment report, nor did the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.”

Ha has never been a member of environmental organizations or civic groups nor has he participated in their campaigns. “All I did was offer testimony [as an expert] at the request of the plaintiffs,” he said. After receiving documentation about Wolseong-1 from Kim Yeong-hee, attorney for the plaintiffs, Ha said in his reply that he was “surprised that Wolseong-1 had gotten the point where operations needed to be halted immediately.”

“Wolseong-1 is a reactor that was designed in and exported from Canada. In order to extend the reactor’s lifespan, the technical standards and requirements in the Canadian regulations must be followed. But neither Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power nor the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety applied any of them,” Ha said.

“If the case is appealed and I’m asked to appear as a witness again, I would definitely consider it,” he added.

Ha also described KHNP’s replacement of 380 pressure tubes at Wolseong-1 (costing more than 500 billion won, US$437.17 million) before it extended the reactor’s lifespan as being “absurdly out of order.”

“At Wolseong-1, they simply didn’t follow the RD-360 regulatory requirements that are supposed to be implemented if you’re going to extend the lifespan of a CANDU-type nuclear reactor. To replace the pressure tubes, you’re supposed to do a gap analysis comparing the situation before and after the replacement, but they didn‘t do that,” he said.

Ha is especially concerned that there was no review or upgrade of the four special safety systems (the containment vessel, two safe shutdown systems and the emergency core cooling system). Even if the parts and machinery in other systems fail during an earthquake or other accident, these four special safety systems have to operate in order to reduce damage.

“If these special safety systems don’t work, you have a serious accident. For example, you could have a disaster like in Fukushima,” he said. The regulatory standards for these four special safety systems are R-7, R-8, R-9 and R-10.

“If these technologies were only partially applied and the regulatory standards were not fully satisfied, as at Wolseong-1, I’m completely certain that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission would not have granted an operating license,” Ha said.

Ha was also baffled about why many sections of the documents submitted by KHNP, including its final safety analysis report (FSAR), had been redacted. KHNP refused to submit or disclose documents, claiming that they contained business secrets and information related to national security.

“The final safety analysis reports for Wolseong-2, Wolseong-3 and Wolseong-4 were written under my watch, and they did not contain any important business secrets nor anything you could describe as a state secret. When I worked for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, the reports for those three units were handed around very casually,” he said.

On Feb. 8, the group of plaintiffs announced that they had submitted a request to the administrative court to halt the validity of the operational adjustment permit at Wolseong-1 in keeping with the court’s cancelation of the reactor‘s lifespan extension permit. if the court accepts this request, Wolseong-1 will be shut down.

By Lee Keun-young, senior staff writer

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

 

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