[Exclusive] Shin Hanul Unit 1 Nearly Faced 'Indefinite Extension'... Original Plan Commission Removed Clause Late

NSSC Approves Recent 'Shin Hanul Unit 1 Operating License Condition Change'
3-Month Extension for Submission of Hydrogen Removal Device Safety Final Report
Draft Includes Clause Allowing 'Indefinite Extension'
Independence Controversy Inevitable for NSSC Formed Under Nuclear Phase-Out Policy

A view of Shin Hanul Units 1 and 2 located in Uljin, Gyeongbuk.
Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] It has been confirmed that the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) added and then deleted a clause permitting an 'indefinite extension' during the process of changing the operating conditions for Shin Hanul Unit 1. This implies that the government’s planned start date for Shin Hanul Unit 1 operation in September could have been delayed by several months or more. Controversy over the independence of the NSSC, which was formed under the nuclear phase-out policy, is expected to continue.

According to related ministries on the 17th, the NSSC recently deliberated and approved the 'Shin Hanul Unit 1 Operating License Condition Change Plan' at its 157th meeting. The core of the change plan is the deadline for Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power’s (KHNP) submission of the final report on the Passive Autocatalytic Recombiner (PAR). The NSSC extended the submission deadline from March of this year to next month, a three-month extension.

PAR is a device that absorbs hydrogen inside a nuclear power plant. In the event of disasters such as earthquakes, it controls hydrogen concentration to reduce the possibility of explosions. A representative case where failure to remove hydrogen led to a major accident is the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. PAR is thus a critical safety device necessary for preventing nuclear accidents.

Accordingly, the NSSC conditionally approved the operation of Shin Hanul Unit 1 last July, requiring proof of PAR safety. The deadline set by the NSSC for KHNP was March of this year. However, KHNP requested the NSSC earlier this month to extend the report submission deadline to next month, citing delays in related schedules such as PAR safety experiments being conducted at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI).

The problem is that the NSSC added a clause allowing an 'indefinite extension' during the process of extending the deadline. The NSSC included a clause in the change plan stating that if additional time is inevitably required due to delays in experimental schedules or analysis and evaluation of experimental results, submission should be made after completion. This effectively means that the deadline can be arbitrarily adjusted depending on the experimental schedule.

This clause was not even requested by KHNP. The official letter recently sent by KHNP to the NSSC only requested an extension of the report deadline to next month. This means the NSSC arbitrarily added a clause allowing it to extend the deadline. An NSSC official also stated, “The clause was not requested by KHNP.”

At the 157th Nuclear Safety Committee held on the 13th, Yukukhee, Chairperson of the Nuclear Safety Committee (right), is speaking. [Photo by Nuclear Safety Committee]

Although this provision was ultimately removed from the final version, if the draft had been approved, the operation start date of Shin Hanul Unit 1 would likely have been delayed beyond the government’s plan. Shin Hanul Unit 1’s operation has already been delayed by more than four years compared to the original plan. If the operation of Shin Hanul Unit 1, which has a generation capacity of 1.4 GW, is delayed, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s policy to increase the share of nuclear power will inevitably face setbacks.

There are also calls for the new government to accelerate the reform of the NSSC, which is a national agenda item. Since four of the seven NSSC commissioners are figures aligned with the nuclear phase-out policy, it may be difficult for nuclear policy to gain momentum. The continued operation of nuclear plants and the resumption of construction for Shin Hanul Units 3 and 4 cannot proceed unless they pass the NSSC’s final approval process for nuclear licensing.

The NSSC stated, “The draft agenda specified the PAR report submission deadline as June,” adding, “Since a comprehensive review of the PAR experiments is underway, it is difficult for KHNP to arbitrarily adjust the report submission schedule.”

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