S. Korea to restart one of two troubled reactors this week

SEOUL (REUTERS) - South Korea will restart one of two nuclear reactors this week after being shut for nearly two months to replace parts which were found to have forged documents, easing power supply concerns as winter bites, the nuclear regulator and operator said.

The State-run Nuclear Safety & Security Commission said in a statement on Monday that it had approved the restart of a 1,000-megawatt (MW) reactor in Yeonggwang county, 300km southwest of the capital Seoul.

A spokesman at Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, state-run Korea Electric Power Corp's subsidiary that runs the country's nuclear industry, said the reactor is expected to fully supply power within this week.

South Korea's nuclear sector has been involved in a series of minor incidents and a scandal over forged certificates for parts used in what the government insists are non-essential operations - events that led to the closure of two reactors.