S Korea resumes operations of Nuke reactor after 6-day safety shutdown

South Korea has resumed operations of a nuclear reactor six days after the reactor was automatically shut down due to the malfunctioning of its power supply unit, authorities said Sunday. The Reactor-6 at the Younggwang Nuclear Power Plant, located some 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul, began operations at 8:40 a.m., the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. said, noting the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission approved the resumption of the operation of the reactor on Saturday, according to South Korea's (Yonhap) news agency. Younggwang is home to five other reactors with the 1,000-megawatt Reactor-6 added to the plant on Dec. 24, 2002. The operator of the reactor has successfully checked and replaced parts for the reactor's power supply unit, a spokesman for the operator said. "Power made from the generator began flowing to the power transmission line as of 8:40 a.m. and we expect the reactor to reach its capacity as of midnight Tuesday," the spokesman said. The shutdown came as another reactor at the southeastern Gori Nuclear Power Plant is under suspension since it was manually shut down on March 12 for a safety inspection. The Nuclear Safety Commission approved the restart of the Gori-1 reactor last month, but it has yet to resume operations due to strong opposition from civic organizations questioning the safety of the reactor whose initial 30-year lifespan ran out in 2008 but was extended by 10 years with some technological upgrades. South Korea currently operates 23 nuclear reactors, which supply about 40 percent of its total electricity consumption. The country on Tuesday began commercial operations of its newest 1,000-megawatt reactor, the first of two reactors to be housed at the New Weolseong Nuclear Power Plant in Gyeongju, 370 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Construction of the second reactor is expected to be completed early next year.