SEOUL -
South Korea on Friday started work on
two new nuclear reactors despite fears over safety in the aftermath of the
radioactive disaster in Japan last year.
The
reactors, each with a capacity of 1,400 megawatts, are being built at existing
nuclear power plants near Uljin on the east coast, the Ministry of Knowledge
Economy said.
The
government plans to spend seven trillion won (S$7.67 billion) to build the New
Uljin 1 and 2 reactors. The first is expected to be online around April 2017
and the second by February 2018.
"Safety
has been drastically strengthened as all recommendations for enhancing safety
that were made after the Fukushima disaster have been reflected in the
design," the ministry said in a statement.
New
features include devices that automatically shut down reactors at times of
quakes, mobile electricity generators and gas-removing facilities that can
operate even during a power failure.
The
ministry said the new pressurised reactors will be the first models using
purely locally developed key parts and systems.
International
environmental group Greenpeace, a vocal critic of the country's nuclear power
programme, said it was ironic that South Korea started building two new
reactors on the eve of Tokyo shutting down its own reactors.
Japan
is scheduled to be nuclear-free Saturday when the last of its 50 reactors goes
offline temporarily for maintenance.
"It
is unbelievable that on the day before Japan closes all its reactors, President
Lee (Myung-Bak) is going in the other direction - building two new ones in
Korea," Lee Hee-Song, a Greenpeace campaign leader in Seoul, said in a
statement.
"It
is clear that Korea has learned little from the Fukushima disaster, where
hundreds of thousands of people are continuing to suffer the consequences."
South
Korea relies on 21 nuclear reactors to meet about 35 per cent of its
electricity needs. It plans to build 11 more, including those started Friday,
by 2020.
AFP
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