S. Korea's nuclear reactor operational rate tops 93 pct in 2008

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, Jan. 4 (Yonhap) -- A drop in the number of malfunctions and temporary
shut-downs helped raise South Korea's nuclear reactor operational rate to the
world's top rankings last year, a government report said Sunday.

The report by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said the average
operational rate of the country's 20 commercial reactors is estimated to have
reached 93.4 percent.
The figure is a gain from 90.3 percent tallied in 2007 and higher than 91 percent
and 76 percent reached by the United States and France, respectively, the world's
top two nuclear energy users.
"This is the best operational rate tallied by any country that operates a
meaningful number of reactors," a ministry official said.
At present, South Korea ranks sixth in terms of energy produced by nuclear
reactors after the United States, France, Japan, Russia and Germany. Nuclear
power plants provide over 36 percent of the country's electrical power supply,
with 12 more to be built by 2022.
During all of last year, Korean reactors experienced 14 mechanical problems, down
from 20 the year before, with a total of nine incidents requiring a temporary
halt in power generation. In 2007, 17 breakdowns caused reactors to go off line.
By power plant, a total of five malfunctions were reported for the Gori reactors
in northern Busan, while the Uljin and Younggwang reactors reported three and
four problems, respectively. Operations at the Wolseong plant, which has
pressurized heavy water reactors, were affected a total of two times last year,
according to the report.
South Korea's high operational rate was achieved by enhancing regular maintenance
and conducting regular safety inspections that carefully examined past problems,
it said.
In 2009, efforts will be made to systematically reduce human errors in the
running of reactors, the ministry said.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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