(December 13, 1996) Korea is the second most 'nuclearized' country in Asia, after Japan. There are currently 11 reactors operating and 7 under construction. The Korean government's plans call for at least 17 additional plants by 2010, and 50 more by 2030! At present nuclear power supplies 35 percent of Korea's national electricity demand. Only one of the four nuclear plant sites in Korea currently has CANDU reactors. All of Korea's reactors are owned and operated by the 70% government-owned Korean Electricity Production Corporation, KEPCO.
(463.4602) Anna Gyorgy -The following interview with Ms. Yu Mi Mun, nuclear campaigner for the country's largest environmental NGO, presents an up-date on serious radioactive pollution problems at Wolsong-Kyongju. Anna Gyorgy spoke with her in November, a few days after her most recent trip to the site.
Yu Mi: There is one nuclear reactor in Wolsong, a heavy water reactor (HWR) from Canada, their CANDU model. Three other CANDUs are now under construction at the same site. A major Korean newspaper reported recently that in 1995 the Wolsong CANDU emitted more than 100 times more radiation than in pressurized-water reactors (PWRs) located at the other nuclear plant sites in South Korea. The release of all radioactive gases in the 12 month period amounted to 32,283 curies; of these 11,980 curies were of tritium. The Korean Atomic Safety Research Institute investigated the environment near the nuclear power plant (NPP), and found high levels of tritium in the rainwater, soil and underground water. In 1994 they found 171 Becquerel per liter average per year in the rainwater 1km away from the NPP. However in 1995, an internal report from the Institute shows that this level had increased to 398.5 Bq/l average. The level of average tritium found in pine needles was 477 Bq/l, but in the month of May alone 1,513 Bq were measured. In surface water, an average 319 Bq/l was found, and in underground water 122 Bq/l per liter. The emission level established by the government is very high in Wolsong because it is a CANDU and it normally emits more radioactive material; 222,000 Bq/l is the official limit for water! So the government has said that even though more radiation was released than in other years and other PWRs, it is still much lower than the standard. So it's no problem, they say.
Anna Gyrogy: How does this allowable limit relate to limits in other countries, like in Canada?
Yu Mi: We have no information on that, and KEPCO has not talked about that. But we got information that in 1994 Canada's Environmental Standards Advisory Committee suggested to the Canadian government that they should lower the allowable concentration levels of tritium in the water to 100 Becquerel per liter.
Anna Gyrogy: And that is from normal operations, or was there an accident?
Yu Mi: It was normal operation, but there was some problem in the CANDU reactor this time. It wasn't an accident, but fuel damage. This information - the radioactivity emission level - was not made public this year. So the reporter that followed up this issue tried to gather more information from the government side and the research center side, and he found out that the emission was so high. That's why he wrote this (front page) article. The high emission of gas and liquid radioactive material last year and this year is caused by the fuel damage, damaged CANDU nuclear fuel. Usually there are just one or two bundles of damaged nuclear fuel discovered in a refueling, among more than 1,000 bundles. But this time 16 bundles of nuclear fuel were damaged. They say that this is due to the fuel fabrication process, which has some problems. So now they will import more uranium fuel from Canada, instead of making it in Korea. So far the Korean CANDU fuel rods have been made at the Korean Atomic Research Center in Taejun. But the second, third and fourth CANDU reactors will be operating soon, in the next few years, so the uranium fuel for the additional reactors will be imported from Canada. The other reason why there is so much radioactivity and tritium, is that they did not get a "smokestack" filtration system especially for tritium. Because it would have been very expensive to import this facility from Canada, KEPCO decided to make their own filtration facility, which will be ready in 2005. But by then there are supposed to be 4 CANDU reactors in Wolsong with no filtration facility, so it will be disastrous for the area. We think that Wolsong has released much more radioactivity to the environment, compared with other PWRs, not only last year and this year, but for the last 10 years. So there will be many victims near the power plant. We discovered that there were many deformed calves and puppies near Wolsong. I saw some pictures of them, and some videos. Some calves could not walk when they were born and they could not eat this? It was very important at Three Mile Island, that cases of deformities in farm and domestic animals were documented, proving extensive releases of radiation following the accident there in 1979.
Yu Mi: We are beginning now. We know it is nearly impossible to prove that the deformities are due to nuclear power. But at least we can gather the cases, many cases, and then say to the people: it can be because of nuclear power, and it's up to KEPCO to prove that it's not because of the nuclear plant. So we are beginning now. One year ago there was no anti-nuclear group in Wolsong, but this year residents started to organize. We are cooperating with the local people and we want any help possible from foreign countries' experts about this problem. When I visited the village near the plant where we saw the dogs, we asked the people if there were any cases of thyroid diseases there. I asked that question because I know that (radioactive) iodine can be stored in the thyroid. I didn't expect an exact answer, but the man I asked said that his wife had been operated on the week before for a thyroid problem! I asked him if they ate much seaweed, and he said: "You can see it here. We collect it and we eat a lot of seaweed."
Anna Gyrogy: Are there water discharges? Most radiation would come from the stack, wouldn't it?
Yu Mi: There are water discharges from cleaning, and tritium is hard to filter out. But most of it comes from the stack and falls on the leaves and surface water, and the sea water becomes contaminated too. The woman who had the thyroid operation told me: "there are so many people who have died of cancer in this village, you should investigate it."
Anna Gyrogy: Do hospitals keep records with causes of death, so you could check for cancer deaths?
Yu Mi: Yes, we can check. But in Korea it is not usual to write down exactly why these people died. I want to give you some numbers. There were two articles recently in the Hankyoreh newspaper. As I said, last year more than 32,000 curies of radioactive gases were emitted at the Wolsong CANDU in one year. Generally a PWR emits 200 curies average per year. But this year, from January to June 1996, Wolsong Unit 1 emitted 90,000 curies! That is 11 times more than the same period in 1995. I don't know the exact technical term, but what is called a "containment building box-up" situation occurred 20 times. I think it happens when the containment is so polluted it becomes completely "boxed up", and they cannot emit any more radioactivity because the concentration is too high. That situation happened 20 times in the containment building. They are constructing three more CANDUs at Wolsong-Kyongju. And they want to build another 4 reactors at the site, but so far they have not decided if these will be PWR models or CANDUs. But that would be 8 reactors on one site. I know that the Canadian company is pushing for CANDUs. And they suggested to Korea that they recycle their used PWR fuel in the CANDUs. They say that the HWRs can use the spent fuel of PWRs after some reprocessing. So this is under serious discussion. And if this project goes further, then Canada can sell more CANDUs.
Anna Gyrogy: And more plutonium will also be created through that process.
Yu Mi: Yes. Actually the Korean people don't know that we will get more CANDUs. I found out about it through (the U.S. based industry newspaper) Nucleonics Week which reported on discussion between Korea and Canada. I think it's a secret deal: technical support for the fuel cycle from Canada, and buying more CANDUs.
Anna Gyrogy: Is Korea is the biggest international customer for CANDUs?
Yu Mi: Yes. But Canada is also going to export the CANDU model to China. China is the only market for CANDU now. Just India, Pakistan and Korea have the CANDU, only three countries (and Romania since April 1996- WISE).
Anna Gyrogy: Why are there only CANDUs at this one location in Korea, and all the other si time, due to the fuel bundle damage, the emissions are much greater than in 1984 and 1994.
Anna Gyrogy: So it's really proof of an increase in emissions probably related to these damaged fuel bundles?
Yu Mi: Yes.
Anna Gyrogy: So did you find any more opposition this time to the additional construction? After these news articles and more awareness of the radiation leakage.
Yu Mi: Yes, there is more awareness in this area. They want to shut this first nuclear power plant and they are opposed to those under construction and the additional four more planned. It is difficult to stop the first reactors and the ones under construction. But at least we can stop construction of a 5th one. In 1998 there are supposed to be four. But I think it is possible to stop construction after these, because the local people have become stronger and stronger. Because they have more proof that this reactor is dangerous.
Source and Contact: Mun Yu Min, Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM), Seoul, Korea
Fax: +82-2-730 1240
E-mail: kfem@chollian.dacom.kr.co