Commission orders retest for reactor

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission on Friday revealed that flaws had been discovered for the initial test process of a control rod and ordered a retest of equipment for the Singori No. 3 reactor in Ulsan, South Gyeongsang.

Last month, the commission delayed authorization to operate the Singori 3 reactor because of a recall in equipment parts.

This time, the nuclear safety board said that one of the cables connecting control rods was determined to be faulty. There are 93 control rods installed at the Singori 3 reactor responsible for controlling nuclear reactions.

The retest, however, won’t likely affect the authorization schedule that previously was delayed by five to six months.

An official at the commission said that it is likely that the retest process with the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power would take two to three months.

On April 23, the commission revealed there was a problem with a valve produced by U.S.-based General Electric, resulting in a recall of the product because of faulty plugs. It was expected to take around five months to replace the valves.

The construction of the 1.4 million-kilowatt reactor has been fraught with many scandals and hiccups along the way.

Last December, three workers at a Singori 3 reactor construction site died from a nitrogen gas leak. Construction was delayed twice after a probe found that test certificates for certain cables were faked and the cables themselves turned out to be faulty.

In 2013, prosecutors uncovered falsified test certificates for parts to be used in the Singori No. 3 and 4 reactors. The Singori 3 was initially expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]