Internal Criticism within Wonanwi over 'Independence Controversy'... "Failed to Fulfill Regulatory Agency Role"

Yoo Guk-hee, Chairperson of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, is speaking at the 155th Nuclear Safety and Security Commission held on the 25th of last month. [Photo by Nuclear Safety and Security Commission]

원본보기 아이콘

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] Inside the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC), there have been continuous complaints that it is "not fulfilling its role." The core criticism is that the NSSC has failed to secure independence and expertise due to personnel appointments biased toward the anti-nuclear power policy. Since President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol has emphasized the "abolition of the anti-nuclear power policy," significant changes are expected in the NSSC, which decides major nuclear power policies with the launch of the new government.

On the 12th, NSSC Commissioner Lee Byung-ryeong pointed out in an interview with Asia Economy that "the NSSC is not fulfilling its role as a regulatory agency because it is biased." Commissioner Lee was the person in charge of the Korean-type nuclear power plant development project initiated by the government in 1986. The history of domestic nuclear power reached a turning point in 1992 when the Korean-type nuclear power development bore fruit. After the operation of Kori Unit 1 in 1978, the domestic nuclear power industry, which had relied solely on foreign technology from the U.S. and others, achieved "technological independence."

Commissioner Lee became an NSSC member in 2019, recommended by the then-opposition Liberty Korea Party. The problem is that he is considered the only nuclear power expert within the NSSC. According to the Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, the president has the authority to appoint the NSSC chairman, the NSSC secretariat chief, and three of the seven non-standing commissioners. More than half of the core personnel of the NSSC, which holds the final decision-making power on nuclear power policy, are not free from the influence of the current government, which has adopted an anti-nuclear power stance. Additionally, the four non-standing commissioners appointed by the government and the Democratic Party of Korea are known to have anti-nuclear power tendencies.

Lee Byung-ryeong, Member of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

원본보기 아이콘

This is why Commissioner Lee submitted his resignation last year. He judged that he could not fulfill his role in an NSSC composed mainly of non-experts. However, he decided to complete his three-year term until September this year after being persuaded by NSSC officials. Commissioner Lee said, "Within the NSSC, nuclear power experts' opinions are treated as minority opinions," and questioned, "How can an NSSC without nuclear power expertise properly regulate?" He added, "Filling the NSSC with anti-nuclear personnel is like entrusting someone who dislikes children to take care of them."

He emphasized that the NSSC should be newly composed of nuclear power experts. Commissioner Lee said, "It is natural to compose the NSSC, which exists for nuclear safety, with nuclear power experts," and added, "Six out of the nine core members should be experts."

Earlier, Cho Jeong-ah, Director of the NSSC Safety Policy Bureau, also practically acknowledged the criticism that the NSSC had not yet secured the status of an advanced country-level organization and lacked public trust, and that it had not been free from the Moon Jae-in administration's anti-nuclear power policy over the past five years, during the "Seminar on the Promotion of Nuclear Power Policy under the Yoon Seok-yeol Government" held at the National Assembly on the 24th of last month.

The Presidential Transition Committee also shares this view. The committee recently urged the NSSC to "be reborn." Han Duck-soo, the nominee for Prime Minister, hinted at the possibility of reforming the NSSC by saying, "If the NSSC cannot properly perform its regulatory functions, efforts should be made to create a more independent commission."

Attention is also focused on the head of the NSSC. Whether the next government will pursue nuclear power policies such as continued operation of nuclear plants is effectively decided by the NSSC. From President-elect Yoon’s perspective, the current chairperson Yoo Guk-hee, appointed under the anti-nuclear power policy, is inevitably a burden. Commissioner Lee said, "At least for the NSSC chairman, I believe it is appropriate for a nuclear power expert, not a bureaucrat, to take the position."

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.