A “safety-related action” automatically shut down one of South Korea’s 23 nuclear reactors yesterday, the nation’s nuclear operator said, bringing the tally of those closed to six and increasing the chances of power blackouts this winter.
Asia’s fourth-largest economy faces severe power shortages again this winter due to cuts in nuclear power use after a corruption scandal that started late last year.
“We are now looking into the cause of [yesterday’s] shutdown and it is not yet clear when the reactor will restart,” a spokesman at operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said.
Operation of the 587-megawatt Kori No. 1 reactor, more than 300km southeast of Seoul, was suspended early yesterday morning.
The reactor, which started operation in 1978, had recently returned from nearly 180 days of scheduled maintenance through Oct. 5, according to KHNP’s Web site.
The unit’s license to operate was extended another 10 years at the end of 2007, another KHNP spokesman said.
South Korea has been striving to curb power demand ahead of winter amid the cutbacks in nuclear power, which provides about a third of the nation’s electricity.
The Cabinet had been set to discuss winter power supply measures yesterday, but the meeting was delayed up to the middle of next month to give officials more time to draw up the plan, spokespeople in the prime minister’s office said.
“With no knowledge of the fate of the three, it is hard to plan winter power supply,” said an energy ministry source who declined to be identified as he was not authorized to speak to media.
Six nuclear reactors are now offline, including three shut because of control cables supplied with fake safety certificates, according to information on the KHNP Web site.
A fourth is awaiting an extension of its license after its 30-year life span expired in November last year.
A fifth is shut for scheduled maintenance through the end of next month.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
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