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| The suspended Wolsong-1 nuclear reactor in Gyeongju is seen in this photo. Yonhap |
By Do Je-hae
The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) concluded that the closure of the Wolsong-1 reactor, which is seen as a symbol of President Moon Jae-in's nuclear phase-out policy, had some procedural problems. But it did not determine the validity of the policy decision, saying that the inspection only covered the economic aspects of the reactor's operation.
The earlier-than-scheduled decommissioning of the reactor has been a hot political issue, as the conservative opposition bloc has claimed the government's evaluation was modified to support the President's scheme for the gradual phasing out of nuclear power generation.
With the BAI's finding of procedural errors in the economic assessment, the government's push for the phase-out scheme is expected to lose public trust and controversies are forecast to arise over the Moon administration's future decisions on the shutdowns of other reactors.
The state auditor said Tuesday that the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) unreasonably underestimated the economic viability of maintaining operations of the Wolsong-1 reactor.
But the BAI withheld an assessment of the validity of the early closure of the reactor in June 2018, saying that its inspection was limited to looking into only the economic feasibility of operating the reactor.
"The decision to close the reactor was a result of a range of factors such as safety and regional acceptance, in addition to economic viability," the BAI said in a report submitted to the National Assembly. "The issues regarding safety and regional acceptance were excluded in this investigation. As the inspection was not about determining the validity of the policy decision, it is not appropriate to view the results of this inspection as a comprehensive assessment on the closure of Wolsong-1 reactor."
The announcement came more than a year after the National Assembly requested, in September 2019, an inspection into the validity of the early closure of the reactor. The results were supposed to be announced by February, but had been delayed by eight months. The results have been eyed by political circles as a barometer for determining the validity of Moon's nuclear phase-out policy.
The reactor, built in 1982, was taken offline in November 2012 after the 30-year initial operation period ended. The KHNP invested 700 billion won to repair it and extend the period by 10 years, and its operation was resumed in June 2015. Some civic groups have supported its closure citing safety reasons.
The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) has criticized the government's decision to close the nuclear power plant, claiming that there was pressure from Cheong Wa Dae and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy for an early closure to push ahead with Moon's policy.
PPP Rep. Park Wan-su, a former mayor of Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province, said the North Gyeongsang region had incurred significant economic and job losses due to the closure of the reactor.
"According to a survey, 2.32 trillion won of economic damage was caused by the suspension of operations at the Wolsong No. 1 reactor in North Gyeongsang Province. We will push for measures to compensate for economic and social losses," Park said during a session at the Assembly, Tuesday.
Cheong Wa Dae declined to comment on the results of the BAI's inspection. "We have not commented on the activities of the BAI. The ministry in charge of energy policy will have something to say about this issue," a presidential aide told reporters.
The minor opposition Justice Party said that the BAI investigation was not sufficient to reverse the decision to close the reactor, underlining that a local court had already upheld the closure of the reactor before the Moon administration announced its nuclear phase-out policy. "The PPP should not use the results of the investigation as a subject of political wrangling," Justice Party spokeswoman Jo Hye-min said.
