SEOUL, KOREA – The Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. held on December 4 an opening ceremony for its new Shin-Gori nuclear power reactors No. 1 and 2. More than 400 guests were present at the event including Minister of Knowledge Economy Hong Seok-woo and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power president Kim Kyun-seop.
The 1-million-kW-class reactors were built with KSNP (Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant) designs, with higher efficiency and less frequent need for repairs and maintenance. With the addition of the two reactors, Korea now has a total of 25 nuclear reactors in operation.
The total generation capacity of the reactors is 15.8 billion kWh, accounting for 3.3 percent of the entire power generation capacity in Korea. As the reactors have been built in Gori, a town 30 kilometers north of Busan, it is expected the reactors will be able to meet the bulk of electricity needs of the nation's second-largest city.
It took seven years and 11 months to complete the construction since the company won an approval in January 2005, with 4.7 trillion won in cost. The reactor No. 1 and No. 2 had begun commercial operations in February 2011 and July this year, respectively, but the official kickoff has been delayed because of the scandal involving the supply of faulty parts to many of the nuclear power plants.
*Article provided by The Korea Economic Daily
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