The government announced a set of measures Tuesday to overhaul the country’s state-run nuclear power plant operator that seeks to enhance the safety of nuclear reactors and public confidence.

The move comes as public confidence over the safety of nuclear power plants plunged from 71 percent in January 2010 to only 34.8 percent at the end of last year, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, which oversees the country’s energy affairs.

Such a large drop was largely caused by a nuclear accident at Japan’s Fukushima plant following a powerful earthquake in March 2011, decreasing public confidence over safety of nuclear power plants here to 40 percent.

However, a series of problems with South Korea’s own reactors and its operator, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., raised more doubts over the safety of nuclear power plants.

The country was also forced to temporarily shut down two reactors late last year after it was found that they had been supplied with over 13,000 substandard parts with fake quality warranties over the past 10 years.

“The fact that all scandals and accidents at KHNP have been made public by outside sources confirms that KHNP’s own efforts to correct its mistakes are restrained,” the ministry said concerning its reason for the government’s reform plan.

“But because the country’s power supply structure requires it to maintain a certain level of nuclear power plants, the most urgent issue is to improve the safety of nuclear power plants and the people’s trust,” it added.

To ensure the quality and authenticity of materials and parts, the government will immediately ban any independent purchase of parts by each power plant and require the KHNP to set up its own procurement office to lessen its dependence on contracted suppliers.

To improve the safety of existing nuclear reactors, the government will “significantly extend” the duration of the regular maintenance period from the current 30 days, it said.

It will also rewrite its manual to focus on finding the root cause of any mechanical problem in nuclear reactors as the focus currently remains on restarting the reactors as quickly as possible by replacing any part that caused the problem.

South Korea currently operates 23 nuclear reactors that supply about 30 percent of the nation’s entire electricity consumption. It plans to build an additional 16 plants by 2030. (Yonhap News)