95% of Fines and Penalties for Nuclear Safety Act Violations Are Imposed on HanSuwon

Lee Hoon-ki, member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Lee Hoon-ki's office.

Over the past five years, 95% of the total fines and penalties imposed on public institutions for violations of the Nuclear Safety Act (Wonanbeop) were concentrated on Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP).

According to Rep. Lee Hoon-ki of the Democratic Party (Cheonnam-dong Eul, National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee) on the 3rd, there were a total of 76 cases of violations of the Nuclear Safety Act in the past five years. Fines amounted to 170 million KRW, and penalties totaled 39.39 billion KRW (combined fines and penalties of 39.56 billion KRW).

Among these, KHNP had 41 violation cases, with fines of 100 million KRW and penalties of 37.35 billion KRW. The total amount of fines and penalties imposed on KHNP was 37.45 billion KRW, accounting for 95% of the total fines and penalties.

Next, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute had 33 violations with fines and penalties totaling 2.1 billion KRW, and the Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences received fines of 2.8 million KRW for 2 violations. Among the public institutions subject to the Nuclear Safety Act, Korea Nuclear Fuel and Korea Radioactive Waste Agency had no violations in the past five years.

The highest amount collected for a single violation case was a penalty of 3 billion KRW imposed on KHNP in 2023 for violating the permit procedure by constructing the Saewool Unit 3 reactor without prior approval for preliminary construction changes.

The most frequent violation was "violation of the operation change permit procedure," which occurred 21 times, all committed by KHNP. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission detected KHNP's violations while reviewing KHNP's operation change permit in 2022. Rep. Lee Hoon-ki emphasized, "The NSSC needs to enforce strong management and supervision to ensure that KHNP's habitual violations of the Nuclear Safety Act are improved."

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