The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission announced on Wednesday that the Kori-1 plant, the country’s oldest nuclear reactor, is safe to continue operation.

The nuclear safety governing body announced the decision after a three-month long safety check.

The Kori-1 plant, which began operation in 1978 in the northern part of Busan, was shut down on March 12 after one of its two reactors temporarily lost power early this year.

The power cut did not lead to any damage, but caused public uproar as the engineers were found to have tried to cover up the mishap. Civic groups in Busan have been protesting, calling for a permanent shut-down of the plant.

Despite the state commission’s approval, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said that it will not restart the reactor until all the remaining concerns are resolved.

“The government will restart the reactor at an appropriate time after fully explaining the outcome of the safety inspection and future plans for the safe operation of the reactor,” the ministry said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission also authorized a design for the country’s indigenously developed small-size nuclear reactor, System-Integrated Modular Advanced Reactor, or SMART.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has been developing SMART in cooperation with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute since 1997 with the aim of exporting it to developing countries.

SMART is one-tenth of large-scale nuclear power plants in size with a generating capacity of 330 megawatts. The government is planning to export SMART to developing countries that have developing infrastructure and limited investment capability.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)