Location: Kori, Chang’an-ŭp, Kijang-kun, Pusan, South Korea

Address: 216 Kori, Chang’an-ŭp, Kijang-kun, Pusan 619-711, South Korea

Telephone Number: +82-51-726-2114

Subordinate to: Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. (한국수력원자력주)

Size: 650MW(e) pressurized water reactor (PWR)

Primary Function: Production of electricity

Description: Kori-2 is South Korea’s second nuclear power reactor provided on a turnkey basis. Construction for Kori-2 nuclear power reactor began in 1977 and it entered commercial operation in July 1983. Kori-2 is a two-loop pressurized light water reactor with its sister plant in Krsko, Slovenia, and is based on a different design from the Kori-1 nuclear power reactor. The U.S. firm Westinghouse Electric Corporation constructed Kori-2 and provided the reactor; General Electric Company provided the steam generator; GEC supplied the turbine generators; and Gilbert/Commonwealth provided architectural engineering services. Hyundai Engineering and Construction and Dong-Ah Construction Industrial Corporation played a minor role as subcontractors providing civil works and equipment installation services. South Korean firms manufactured 12.9 percent of the equipment and components. Kori-2, which was originally operating at a 12-month fuel cycle, became South Korea’s first PWR to extend its cycle to 15 months in 1987. From 1990-1991, Kori-2 generated power at an average capacity of 99.4 percent, which ranked it first worldwide among 150MW(e) or greater PWRs. Kori-2 has not experienced any accidents and has been shut down only for maintenance and inspections, with the exception of September 2003, during a typhoon in which South Korea’s nuclear power plants were shut down out of safety concerns.

Key sources: Ministry of Science and Technology, <http://www.most.go.kr>; Ministry of Science and Technology, Wŏnjaryŏk Anjŏnbaeksŏ (Seoul: MOST, 2003); “Kori Nuclear Power Plant: Korea’s First PWR Site,” Nuclear News, November 1992, p. 45, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>; Mark Hibbs, “All But Two Oldest Korean PWRs to Be on 18-Month Cycles by 2007,” Nuclear Fuel, 10 December 2001, p. 4, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>; Yonhap News Agency, 15 September 2003, in “ROK’s Yonhap: Nuclear Plants Resume Operations After Typhoon,” World News Connection, 15 September 2003, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>; Shin Ho Chul and Ann MacLachlan, “Korean Firms, Bringing New Units on Line Within 68 Months, Aim for Less,” Nucleonics Week, 22 August 1985, p. 2, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>; Shin Ho Chul and Ann MacLachlan, “Korean Strive for Self-Reliance in Nuclear Plant Construction,” Nucleonics Week, 19 December 1985, p. 8, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>.