'Wolseong Unit 1 Early Shutdown Decision' Audit Result Vote Fails Again... Deliberation to Resume After October 15 National Assembly Inspection

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) continued deliberations on the audit report regarding the validity of the 'early shutdown decision of Wolseong Unit 1' on the 13th but again failed to reach a conclusion. With the BAI deciding to resume discussions after the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit on the 15th, it has become impossible to disclose the audit results before the national audit.

On the day, from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., the BAI held its fourth audit committee meeting attended by Chairman Choi Jae-hyung and five audit committee members to review the audit results but adjourned without reaching a conclusion.

The next audit committee meeting is expected to be held as early as the 16th, after the national audit concludes.

The BAI has been conducting marathon deliberations, holding audit committee meetings on the 7th, 8th, and 12th as well. The audit began last September at the request of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Business Committee. The request was to verify whether Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power's decision to shut down Wolseong Unit 1 early was valid and whether any breach of fiduciary duty occurred among the board members during the decision-making process.

Wolseong Unit 1 was originally scheduled to reach the end of its design life in 2022, but its lifespan was extended by 10 years after investing 592.5 billion won in facility reinforcement. On the other hand, in June 2018, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power held a board meeting and decided to shut down Wolseong Unit 1 early. The opposition party claimed that "the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power board manipulated data such as electricity sales prices to align with the Moon Jae-in administration's nuclear phase-out policy."

A BAI official stated, "Since there are many contentious issues in the audit and the matter is complex and sensitive, the audit committee members are carefully reviewing it, which is causing some delay."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.