http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121213f1.html
Nuclear risks not bound by borders
Fears grow over South's atomic plants 200 km from Fukuoka
By ERIKO ARITA
Staff writer
BUSAN, South Korea - One of the key issues in Sunday's Lower House
election is the future of Japan's 50 commercial nuclear reactors, all
but two of which remain off line in light of the Fukushima disaster.
But few voters are aware that six reactors are operating in the South
Korean cities of Busan and nearby Ulsan sit only 200 km from Fukuoka.
Both nuclear plants are situated on the country's southeast coast,
and their safety situation closely resembles the Fukushima No. 1
plant before it had three core meltdowns in March 2011.
And work has almost finished on two new reactors at the Ulsan facility.
As awareness grows of the dangers of nuclear power, around 450
Japanese and an equal number of South Koreans took part in a nine-day
cruise tour from Dec. 1 organized by nongovernmental organizations,
visiting atomic plants in both nations and debating the risks and
economic issues both countries face.
"If there is a crisis at a nuclear power station in either country,
it would threaten the lives of people in both Japan and South Korea,"
said Tatsuya Yoshioka, a representative of the Tokyo-based Peace Boat
NGO, which helped arrange the tour.
During visits to the four-reactor Kori nuclear plant in the
industrial powerhouse of Busan and the two-unit Shin Kori atomic
complex in Ulsan, another large metropolis, an employee of the museum
built by the operator of the plants explained their safety features
to guard against earthquakes, touting the robustness of the reactor
buildings' 1.5-meter-thick walls.
"The structures can bear pressure from major temblors and other
natural disasters. We believe it is safest to evacuate into the
buildings (rather than flee the area) in the event of an earthquake,"
the employee said.
However, the reactors have suffered minor accidents in the past. In
February, the entire power supply to one of the units at the Kori
facility was cut for 12 minutes before workers rerouted electricity
from the other reactors.
Yet local residents weren't informed of the incident until a month
later, according to Gu Tae Hee of Busan's Democracy Park NGO.
Locals also fear that a disaster similar to the Fukushima No. 1
meltdowns could occur in their own backyard, and that hundreds of
thousands of people might be forced to evacuate due to massive
radioactive fallout, just like residents in Fukushima Prefecture did
last year.
"I am concerned about (a possible) crisis at the two power stations
because the area is densely populated," said Hwa Duck Hun, an
assemblyman of Busan's Haeundae Ward, which is located just 20 km
from each plant and has some 430,000 residents.
The fact that one of the Kori plant's reactors was manufactured by a
U.S. company in 1977, just two years before a unit at the Three Mile
Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania suffered a partial meltdown in
the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, makes Hwa all the more
uneasy.
The narrow roads in small villages such as Shinri, which is situated
extremely near to both power stations, could prove a major problem in
a catastrophe because they would become jammed with people fleeing
for their lives.
The village has asked authorities to widen existing roads, Shinri
Mayor Shon Bok Lark said, adding local officials have also started
holding nuclear disaster preparedness drills.
Displaying a photo of a crammed road near the Fukushima No. 1 plant
immediately after the crisis was spawned by the Great East Japan
Earthquake and tsunami, Kenichi Shimomura, one of the tour members
and a former anchorman of a TBS news program, explained the
importance of widening roads near the plants as a key precaution.
"Roads in the vicinity of the Kori and Shin Kori nuclear complexes
are narrow and similar to those that residents in Fukushima used to
escape. But because they are narrow, the residents could move at a
speed of only 12 meters per hour," Shimomura noted.
"I wonder whether you are considering how to evacuate in case of a
critical nuclear accident," he told Mayor Shon.
But the truth is, Shon explained, the construction of nuclear plants
is a national project, and villagers were left with no choice but to
agree to host the Kori and Shin Kori facilities.
Atomic energy is a hot-button topic in South Korea's Dec. 19
presidential election, as 23 reactors are currently churning out
electricity for the nation. Park Geun Hye, tapped by the ruling Grand
National Party as South Korean President Lee Myung Bak's successor,
is a strong advocate of nuclear power, but her main rival, the
opposition camp's Moon Jae In, wants to completely phase out atomic
plants.
"The election could (fundamentally) change South Korea's energy
policy," said Choi Yul, head of the Korean Green Foundation, the
tour's co-organizer.
The South Korean government plans to increase the ratio of nuclear
power in the country's electricity supply to 48.5 percent by 2024
from 31.4 percent, the figure for 2010.
However, the safety of nuclear plants remains unresolved, according
to Yun Sun Jin, an environmental studies professor at Seoul National
University who pointed out the risk of a disaster occurring in the
megalopolis of Busan, population 3.6 million, as well as at the
five-reactor Wolsong atomic complex that lies a little farther north
along the coast.
After learning about South Korea's nuclear plants, tour participant
Daisuke Makise was struck by the parallels in the two countries: In
each case, the central government has pressured municipalities in
dire need of jobs to host nuclear complexes in exchange for an
economic boost.
As a result, the economies of these communities have become hugely
dependent on the nuclear energy industry, said Makise, a 25-year-old
graduate student at Kagoshima University.
"Unless there are other industries (regional economies can rely on),
we cannot easily say stop nuclear power," Makise said.
But for Sayaka Taira, another tour member, the difficult and complex
situation residents face in South Korea has only reinforced her
conviction that nuclear plants are not something she wants Japan to
continue depending on in the future.
A 28-year-old employee at the Tama Culture Center in western Tokyo,
Taira said she will vote in Sunday's election for a party seeking to
completely eliminate atomic energy.
"Although they may not be able to propose details for the abolition
of nuclear power, I support parties that (promise to) do their best
to shut down atomic plants and reconstruct industries in areas
hosting them," Taira said.
The Japan Times: Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012
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