On January 7, MBC Pohang reported that radiation is leaking at the Wolseong nuclear power site in South Korea. The Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. (KHNP) conducted an internal investigation last year, upon which the MBC report was said to be based. Underground water at ten locations on the nuclear power station site were examined. Radioactive tritium was detected in the water at all ten locations. The highest level detected was 713,000 becquerels, said to be 18 times the acceptable manageable level in a ground water sump underneath the Number 3 turbine building. The source of the radioactive leak has not been determined. It was also reported a level of 924 bequerels was detected 300 meters north of the restricted area around the nuclear reactors at the boundary of the Nuclear Power site. Independent experts have suggested that the deteriorating condition of concrete from facilities more than 20 years old as a possible source and a water barrier failure is suspected. The reported findings were described as "shocking," and the contamination of underground water was described as "pervasive."
The potential for the nuclear contamination to spread to the surrounding area through the underground water was acknowledged but the KHNP said that such spread had not been confirmed. Reactor number one at Wolseong, which began operations in 1983 was scheduled for shutdown in November 2022. The Moon Jae-in administration shortened the operational life of the reactor by shutting it down in June 2018 in accordance with his policy to move away from nuclear power as an energy source. There had been complaints by local citizens and environmental groups since tests of local residents allegedly revealed evidence of accumulation of tritium in human tissue in 2015, and reports of thyroid tumors in the local population. The November 2022 service life extension on Wolseong reactor one was the result of a locally unpopular ten year extension on the original service life expiration in 2013.
Incidentally, prosecutors from the Daejon District had previously arrested officials in the Moon administration on suspicion of destroying approximately 500 official documents to conceal improper administrative procedures for early closure of the reactor. Among those charged is ( 백운규 ) Park Oon-kyu former Minister of Industry, Trade, and Energy and officials from the Hydro and Nuclear Power office. Officials allegedly responsible for destruction of evidence and obstruction of the criminal investigation have been jailed. The investigation began before investigatory powers were taken from the offices under the controversial Prosecutor General and vested by legislative reforms in the police and the new Senior Public Official Corruption Investigative Council. The prosecutor's investigation is allegedly politically motivated and bases its allegation of an improper early closure of the Wolseong reactor exclusively on the purported "manipulation" of economic considerations to satisfy President Moon's policy goal. Critics say it is unprecedented in a democratic government for criminal prosecutors to interfere in what is a fundamental exercise of discretionary powers by the executive offices.
South Korean political pundits on the left have observed that there has been a virtual news blackout of the Wolseong radiation leak report in South Korean media. The political bias of the reporting is evident, as the premise of the current investigation and prosecution of nuclear officials in the Moon administration now appears in an embarrassing context of a breakdown of both safety management and material maintenance at the Wolseong facility and the need for closure of the reactor on reasonable safety grounds. In contrast to the Moon administration's decision to timely shut down the reactor permanently, the criminal investigation into the decision appears to be "unreasonable."
References:
‘월성원전 수사’ 소설쓰는 언론들, 충격적 ‘방사능 누출’은 함구; 승인 2021.01.08 12:11:16 수정 2021.01.08 15:08:09; [출처: 고발뉴스닷컴] http://www.gobalnews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=31586
월성원전 방사능 누출. 문재인정부의 조기폐쇄결정을 옳았다; 시사건건 youtube, Jan. 8, 2021
경주 월성원전 방사능 누출.. 추가 오염 우려 (2021.01.07/뉴스데스크/포항MBC) youtube
South Korea to boost nuclear power? Seoul (UPI) Feb 20, 2012; https://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/South_Korea_to_boost_nuclear_power_999.html
생수 마신 5세 아이까지 피폭, 더는 살 수 없다; 경주 월성원전 주민 40명 방사성 물질 노출, 근본적 대책이 절실하다; 최종 업데이트 16.01.24 10:51, 글: 양이원영(wawayang); http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002177075
At the time the article was published, activists had been conducting a sit in front of the Wolseong Nuclear Power Office continuosly for 500 days.
There are some interesting facts in the article which focuses on the inadequacy of the Korean government's effort or lack thereof, to conduct epidemiological surveys of radiation levels in the human body and frequency of relevant cancers in the local population and the compelling need for such research. What is the acceptable safe limit of tritium in the human body? Obviously it must be different for infants and children. Pronouncements of alleged findings of the Korean nuclear power regulatory authority are compared unfavorably to analogous German findings. There is a chart showing the levels of tritium found in 40 persons in the vicinity of the Wolseong facility in 2015 expressed in becquerels per liter. The "official" South Korean limit was apparently established at 30 bec/ltr which all but one of the 40 tested persons were beneath. Also an interesting chart in the article is said to show that when the Wolseong No. 1 reactor was shut down for a period of time, the number of radioactive emissions at Wolseong went down significantly (but still remained well above other South Korean nuclear power stations). It is reported anecdotally that there have been numerous thyroid cancers in the area near the Wolseong reactor site. Also, the article said 20 percent of Ulsan residents were found to have significant levels of tritium in their bodies.
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