Shin Wolsong 2 completes tests at full power

The second unit of the Shin Wolsong plant has successfully completed a test run at 100% output, plant owner Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) announced today. The reactor is set to enter commercial operation later this year.

The second unit of the Shin Wolsong plant has successfully completed a test run at 100% output, plant owner Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) announced today. The reactor is set to enter commercial operation later this year.

Workers conduct full-power tests at Shin Wolsong 2 (Image: KHNP)

Following completion of the 100% power ascension test, the reactor has now be taken offline for 52 days for maintenance. After additional tests and inspections, the unit will be restarted in mid-June. KHNP aims to begin commercial operation of the unit in July 2015. 

Fuel loading began at the 1050 MWe OPR-1000 reactor on 14 November 2014 after South Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission issued an operating licence to KHNP for the reactor. The unit was subsequently connected to the grid on 26 February.

Construction began on Shin Wolsong 2 in 2008 and was completed in 2013, but the NSSC withheld permission for the reactor to start up following a discovery in May of that year that safety-related control cabling with falsified documentation had been installed at four reactors. The NSSC approved the restart of the other affected reactors - Shin Kori units 1 and 2 and Shin Wolsong unit 1 - in January 2014 after the completion of recabling work.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News