Joincheol Jo: "Security Holes in 'Gageup' Security Facilities at Nuclear Power Plants"

1,090 Cases of Unauthorized Entry Occurred... Only 11 Reported
"8 Months of Unauthorized Use... Poor Management but Strict Access Control"

Assemblyman Join Chul

Nuclear power plants designated as ‘Grade A’ security facilities have been found to be vulnerable to security breaches.

According to data submitted to the National Assembly audit by Jo In-cheol, a member of the Democratic Party representing Gwangju Seo-gu Gap, from the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), there were as many as 1,090 cases of unauthorized access to nuclear power plants from 2020 through August of this year.

Nuclear power plants are designated as ‘Grade A’ national security facilities alongside the Presidential Office, Ministry of National Defense buildings, and international airports. Accordingly, access by outsiders is restricted; ‘temporary’ visitors must be accompanied by staff, and ‘occasional and regular’ visitors must pass a background check conducted by the police before an access pass is issued. Furthermore, KHNP has explained that even after issuing access passes, strict management is enforced: delayed return of passes results in a one-month suspension of access, and failure to return passes leads to a six-month suspension.

However, these regulations were largely for external reporting purposes and the reality was quite different. In one nuclear power plant, an employee B from a transportation company, who was not authorized for access, used the occasional access pass of A, a bus driver for a subcontractor who had resigned, to enter the facility for eight months from February to October 2023. KHNP reportedly did not recognize this. It was only during A’s process of obtaining a new access pass after moving to another company that ‘non-return and unauthorized use of access passes’ was discovered, as pointed out by Representative Jo.

KHNP also failed to report about 1,000 cases of unauthorized access to the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, the supervisory authority, and reported only 11 cases. Moreover, KHNP claimed that only ‘serious’ unauthorized access cases were reported according to their internal standards, but analysis of the data revealed that the 11 cases reported to the Commission included not only ‘serious’ but also ‘minor’ and ‘moderate’ cases, contrary to KHNP’s explanation.

Representative Jo stated, “Not only did over 1,000 unauthorized access incidents occur at nuclear power plants that should be operated with the highest national security level, but KHNP also underreported and omitted these incidents to higher authorities, clearly exposing the company’s poor security standards. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission must undertake thorough management and supervision.”