A plan to install CCTV in the main control rooms of nuclear power plants across the nation is facing opposition from workers concerned about privacy.

“We are reviewing the policy in a bid to reduce human errors in the main control room, which will help to rebuild public trust in nuclear power plants,” an official from the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said.

CCTV has already been adopted in many areas of power plants except for their main control rooms, where workers oversee the operations.

The official from the nation’s nuclear power plant operator claimed that there will not be any recording function in the cameras, mitigating the privacy concerns that the KHNP’s labor union raised.

Despite internal conflict over privacy, industry watchers predicted the KHNP would push for the CCTV installment to restore its falling credibility.

KHNP’s tightened measure came as a follow-up to boost public trust in the nation’s 23 nuclear power plants after a number of sub-standard parts were found used in unit 5 and unit 6 of the nuclear power plant in Yeonggwang County, South Jeolla Province, early last month. The two reactors have been shut down to change out all of the parts in question.

Since then, KHNP has been under pressure to take measures to rebuild public trust by boosting transparency. Last week, the KHNP announced it will adopt a transparent performance evaluation system from next year.

“It is critical to clear away doubts of citizens over the security of nuclear power plants as resource-scarce Korea’s dependency on nuclear power will continue,” an industry source said.

By Seo Jee-yeon  (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)