MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to a state commission's head Kim Ji-hyung, commission "recommends to the government the policy of resuming the construction of Shin Kori No. 5 and No. 6."
A public deliberation committee has advised the South Korean government to resume construction of the Shin Kori No. 5 and 6 nuclear reactors. The Moon admin, which permanently suspended construction of the units, has said it will accept the decision the panel makes. pic.twitter.com/Z6sZF1urnP
— Stephen Stapczynski (@SStapczynski) 20 октября 2017 г.
The official added that 59.5 percent of a 471-member jury favored the resumption of the project, while 40.5 percent backed its cancellation. Meanwhile, a recent poll conducted by Realmeter showed that 43.8 percent of the respondents were against the resumption, whereas 43.2 percent supported the project.
The suspension of reactors' construction was one of the election campaign promises of South Korean President Moon Jae-in. After assuming office, Moon, nevertheless, announced that the fate of the project would be decided by a state commission tasked with collecting public opinion on this issue.
READ MORE: India Provides Russia With Site to Construct New NPP Designed by Moscow
The construction was suspended in July when the reactors were about 30 percent complete and around $1.4 billion had already been spent on the project.
The concerns about the safety of these reactors were raised after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck the southeastern city of Gyeongju in September 2016. The experts reportedly warned South Korean authorities that the country might face a catastrophe similar to Japan's Fukushima.
In March 2011, a 9.0-magnitude offshore earthquake triggered a 46-foot tsunami that hit Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant, leading to the leakage of radioactive materials and the shutdown of the plant. The accident is considered to be the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
