In an attempt to appease the public’s anxiety and fury over corruption within the nuclear power business, the government pledged a “zero-tolerance response” to all those who were involved in the scheme.

“We will track down all acts of irregularity and make sure that those who are found to be responsible face the due legal punishment,” Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said in a press briefing held at the Central Government Complex on Friday.

The government’s three-step countermeasure plans will first involve a thorough investigation and consequent penalties for those responsible, and then a full-scale review for the general safety of nuclear reactors and preventive measures for the future, he said.

The briefing session was held jointly by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.

In line with the government’s stern tone, the Busan prosecution requested on Friday an arrest warrant for a senior official of JS Cable, which supplied the faulty cables under forged quality certificates.

The prosecution also said that it would take the same measure against an official of KEPCO Engineering & Construction, for overlooking the faulty documents.

The Korea Electric Power Corporation, the state-run electricity provider, also summoned a directorate meeting to vote on the dismissal of Ahn Seung-gyu, CEO of KEPCO E&C.

The Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Corporation, too, accepted the resignation of its CEO Kim Kyun-seop earlier on Thursday.

“This is a war against the rampant corruption within the nuclear power business,” said the prime minister.

In order to cut off the vicious circle of irregularities, the government decided to ban former senior officials of public corporations from taking a new post in nuclear-related partner companies.

As to ensure the security of the operational nuclear reactors, it also set a full-scale review on all component test certificates which have been submitted over the past 10 years.

“We will start with the signal cables and other components which have been certified by Saehan TEP and then expand the inspection to other companies,” the prime minister said.

The disputed firm was in charge of the certification for JS Cable’s signal cables, which turned out to be faulty and caused the shutdown of two nuclear reactors late last month.

“Safety will remain the top priority under all circumstances,” said NSSC chairman Lee Un-chul, pledging to shut down other nuclear reactors as well, in case faulty components turned out to have been involved.

The trade ministry, meanwhile, underlined the need to introduce a fair verification process to prevent such acts of irregularity from recurring in the future.

“This scandal may have been triggered by the corrupt collusion of the parts supplier and the certifier, but fundamentally roots back to the years-long exclusivity of the nuclear power business,” said Han Jin-hyun, the trade ministry’s deputy vice minister in charge of energy and trade.

The ministry also plans to submit a revision bill of the current nuclear safety act, legislating compensation obligations for civil nuclear certifiers in case quality errors are detected, Han added.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)