Survey shows most S. Koreans fear safety of atomic power plants

SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- An overwhelming majority of South Koreans oppose additional construction of atomic power stations due to safety concerns, a survey showed Thursday.

In the survey commissioned by the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, a Seoul-based environmental group, 77.8 percent of the 1,000 adults aged 19 or older polled expressed concerns on the safety of nuclear power plants. Only 17.5 percent answered they didn't have fear for the nuclear plants, the survey showed.

The survey was conducted before the government is set to finalize its long-term plan for energy polices.

Last month, a consultation group comprised of private and government experts recommended the government maintain the ratio of power generated by nuclear energy in the range of 22-29 percent in the next two decades, according to sources. This is far lower than the 41 percent proposed for the 2008-30 period under the previous Lee Myung-bak administration.

The plan, if realized, would mean a significant turnaround from the country's decades-old energy policies...

Nuclear power safety
Old boy network forms a chain of corruption
2013/06/09 06:20


As President Park Geun-hye said recently, it is an unpardonable crime to compromise safety in nuclear power generation in pursuit of personal gain. What kind of catastrophe a nuclear accident can inflict on a nation has been shown by the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters.

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won shared the president's deep concern about nuclear safety when he promised on Friday to leave no stone unturned in the government's investigation into the provision of substandard parts and materials for nuclear power plants.

Now targeted for criminal investigations are those that are found to have been involved in falsifying test certificates for parts and materials used in nuclear power plants. They have put the nation under the threat of nuclear hazards by trading nuclear safety for their personal interest. None of them will deserve even an iota of leniency....

Arrest warrants sought for 13 in corruption involving nuke power operator
2013/08/07 04:45

SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Yonhap) -- State prosecutors said Wednesday they have requested court-issued warrants for 13 people to detain them for further questioning on charges that they forged quality warranties of components used in local nuclear reactors.

The suspects allegedly supplied various critical plant equipment to Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), the state-run operator of nuclear power plants, after doctoring their safety tests and certificates, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (SPO) said.

Releasing a preliminary probe outcome into a snowballing corruption scandal involving the nuclear power operator, the SPO said that two have been put in jail with court-issued warrants pending trial and a decision on warrants for 11 others will be made soon.

Additionally, some of the suspects allegedly took bribes from testing company officials in return for accepting substandard parts with fabricated safety tests, prosecutors said.

"We plan to wrap up the corruption investigation by end of this month...

Imagining post-nuclear Japan
BY JEFF KINGSTON
SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES
NOV 30, 2013

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has sent shock waves through the political establishment by calling for the end of nuclear power generation in Japan. “There is nothing more costly than nuclear power,” Koizumi was quoted as saying during an interview with Tokyo Shimbun — something Japanese taxpayers are coming to understand very well.

Koizumi may be a late convert to the anti-nuclear movement, but he remains popular, persuasive and, on this issue, absolutely right. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might get some reactors back online in 2014, but he risks a powerful popular backlash because people are not ignoring the lessons of Fukushima. Koizumi is correct in saying that most politicians would go along with Abe if he stood up to the nuclear village and declared “Abenomics” meant tapping the green growth potential of smart, renewable energy. This is a sustainable and affordable low-carbon model that is far more suitable for Japan and developing nations than pricy nuclear reactors.

The old motto of the nuclear village — “safe, cheap and reliable” — now seems like a bad joke. It is hard to put a price tag on the overall consequences of the meltdowns at Fukushima and the ballooning costs of bailing out Tokyo Electric Power Co., but by some estimates it’s $100 billion and rising. There are still more than 100,000 nuclear refugees driven from their homes by the catastrophe. In early November, the government finally acknowledged that many can never return to their ancestral homes. Local farmers and fishermen have a deep hole to climb out of to regain consumer trust, while tourism has been hammered and faces tough prospects. Lingering stigma and health concerns are also exacting a stiff psychological toll on residents.

In the global lexicon, Fukushima is shorthand for nuclear disaster in much the same way as Chernobyl before it. It is indelibly tarnishing the Japan brand and will linger ominously despite Abe’s reassurances that the situation is under control. It doesn’t help that polls show that only 11 percent of Japanese believe Abe, and even Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose has suggested that Abe mislead the International Olympic Committee. The lesson of Fukushima, Mr. Abe, is not the need for better public relations.

Problematically, Abenomics relies heavily on nuclear energy...

BMW to Electrify entire model range

BMW product chief Herbert Diess says “Electricification will be a central thread in what we do, be it plug-in hybrid, hybrid or full electrification".

Diess told Autocar "all BMW models will soon need to be sold with some form of electrification - be it in hybrid form or pure electric drive" as it is the only way of meeting stringent emissions regulations in the future.

“We are planning to have a plug-in hybrid in each and every model series,” BMW’s head of production for large vehicles, Peter Wolf, told motoring.com.au. “So far we have the 3, 5 and 7 Series as full hybrids, and at the other end of the bookshelf the i3 and the i8. We are planning to work on that with the X5 eDrive, but at this stage, the plug-in is a completely new concept, and the battery is very specific [to the X5].”

Diess explained that European customers are likely to see most of the new electric-drive technology first, as regulations here are stricter than elsewhere....