Reactor-1 of Uljin Nuclear Power Plant automatically shut down, South Korea

On August 23, 2012 a nuclear reactor in South Korea’s southeastern region shut itself down after its reactor operation system gave a warning signal, the state-run plant operator said.

The Reactor-1 in Uljin Nuclear Power Plant, automatically stopped operating its nuclear reactor and turbine generator as of 6:41 p.m., according to the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. It froze itself on the warning signal and the shutdown falls under a “zero” rating according to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards, it said.

The state-run operator said the halt of the reactor will not have any impact on the plant’s safety, adding it is unrelated to a radiation leak. The operator immediately reported the shutdown to related government agencies to find out the reasons for the freeze.

The Uljin Nuclear Power Plant (울진원자력발전소) is a large nuclear power station in the Gyeongsangbuk-do province of South Korea. The facility is surrounded with walls to protect it against 10-meter tsunami. It has six pressurized water reactors (PWRs) with a total installed capacity of 5,881 MW. The Uljin generator is a pressurized water reactor with a capacity of 950,000 kilowatts, and has been operating since 1988.

This is second reported nuclear reactor shutdown in South Korea in last 30 days.

On July 30, 2012 a reactor at the Yeonggwang nuclear power plant in southwestern Korea was automatically shut down due to a malfunction, plant operators said. The state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co (KHNP) said the Unit 6 reactor at the Yeonggwang plant, located some 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul, went off-line at 5:57 UTC. The unit had been under special treatment due to fuel rod defects that caused radioactivity levels in the reactor coolant… Read our earlier report: Nuclear reactor of fifth largest nuclear power plant automatically shut down, South Korea.

Sources: Yonhap News Agency, The Watchers

Featured image: Uljin Nuclear Power Station. Credit: Google Earth