S.Korea's Gori-1 reactor declared safe by IAEA

IAEA inspectors declared South Korea’s aging Gori-1 nuclear reactor as safe after reviewing the facilities for eight days.

The eight International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, led by Miroslav Lipar, the head of the IAEA’s industrial safety department, said they found no problems with the emergency generator used at Gori-1 and said other systems were working properly as well.

However, they provided no detailed explanation as to why the same generator stayed idle during the 12-minute blackout in February.

While the power failure that led to the investigation didn’t cause any meaningful damage, the public’s uneasiness over the condition of the country’s oldest nuclear power plant only grew after it was found that engineers had tried to cover up the mishap.

The IAEA announcement failed to convince environmentalists and local residents, who vowed to continue protests and call on the government to close down the reactor.

Gori-1 briefly lost power on Feb. 9  and the emergency generator failed to kick in. The power cut caused cooling water to stop circulating. Five senior engineers, including a 55-year-old chief engineer, were charged in May with trying to cover up the power failure that was obviously potentially dangerous.

Korean investigators also found that the generator was left unfixed several days after the incident.

The IAEA inspectors praised the plant for successfully meeting international safety requirements, strengthened following the Fukushima reactor disaster in Japan in March last year. But the mission did criticize the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. for allowing a lax culture of safety and leadership over the cover-up scandal.

Civic activists and locals continued to demand the shutdown of Gori-1 and questioned the credibility of the IAEA inspection.

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