Ulsan Office of Education Introduces Nation's First VR Device for Radiation Education

Ulsan Office of Education.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education is making this year the inaugural year for radiation education and will conduct radiation education and training at all schools (including kindergartens) nationwide for the first time.

In line with the education initiative, the Office of Education plans to purchase 100 virtual reality (VR) devices for radiation education and distribute them to key safety experience classrooms near nuclear power plants and major safety experience education facilities such as the Ulsan Safety Experience Center.

Starting from July, a free rental program will be available to all schools.

Ulsan has four schools located within the Precautionary Action Zone (PAZ), which is within 3 to 5 km from nuclear facilities, part of the national radiation emergency planning system’s Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ).

Within the Urgent Protective action Planning Zone (UPZ), which is within 20 to 30 km from nuclear facilities, among 248 elementary, middle, and high schools, 181 schools are included based on the Shin-Kori/Saewool nuclear power plants, and 140 schools based on the Wolseong nuclear power plant, accounting for at least 56% and up to 73% of schools.

Reflecting this special situation in the Ulsan area, the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education is conducting annual radiation education and hazardous chemical spill accident preparedness training at all schools (including kindergartens) nationwide for the first time starting this year.

The Safety General Division of the Office of Education, which oversees radiation education and training, has secured a budget of 200 million KRW to support smooth radiation education and training at all schools.

With the secured budget, the “Project to Introduce 100 VR-based Radiation Disaster Training Systems” was promoted.

Through competitive bidding, the Office of Education purchased 100 units of the latest VR device called “Oculus Quest 2,” equipped with the VERITAS (VR Radiological Emergency TrAining System) training system that allows users to experience from a first-person perspective the indoor evacuation procedures during a radiation leak, shelter registration procedures, and living guidelines after arriving at the shelter.

Among the 100 VR devices purchased for radiation education, 80 units will be distributed to major safety experience education facilities for use.

Twenty units will be allocated to the Ulsan Safety Experience Center for safety experience education targeting 5th-grade elementary and 1st-grade middle school students, and another 20 units will be distributed to the Student Education Center for 1st-grade high school students.

To focus education near the Shin-Kori/Saewool nuclear power plants, 20 units will be distributed to Onsan Elementary School, which operates the Ulju-gun base-type safety experience classroom, and 20 units will be allocated to Yeonam Elementary School, which operates the Buk-gu base-type safety experience classroom near the Wolseong nuclear power plant.

The remaining 20 units, along with 20 units introduced last year, will be used in a free rental program targeting all elementary, middle, and high schools in Ulsan, providing educational opportunities to schools that wish to participate.

In addition to the free rental program for radiation education VR devices, the Safety General Division is also conducting a “Visiting Radiation Education” program in cooperation with Ulsan City Hall and Ulju-gun, where professional radiation education instructors visit each school directly.

The program has educated a total of 78 schools and 31,831 students on the correct response methods in the event of a radiation accident.

Safety General Division Chief Park Bong-guk said, “Since radiation is colorless, tasteless, and odorless, evacuation drills can become intangible exercises. We planned this project to distribute a well-structured VR training system so that students can experience it realistically.”

Chief Park added, “As no other city or province requires radiation accident response capabilities as much as Ulsan, we plan to actively implement Ulsan-customized radiation safety education starting with radiation education and training at all schools this year.”