05/11/2012 12:42
Seoul forced to shut down two nuclear reactors
South Korea was forced to shut down two nuclear reactors on Monday to replace components that had not been properly vetted, a minister said, warning of "unprecedented" power shortages to follow, the AFP reports.
Knowledge Economy Minister Hong Suk-Woo said the "non-core" components posed no safety threat and were unrelated to a string of systems malfunctions at reactors this year that triggered calls for a safety review.
The two affected units at the Yeonggwang nuclear complex may remain offline until early January, as engineers replace more than 5,000 fuses, cooling fans and other parts for which suppliers had provided faked quality certificates.