The reactor hall and auxiliary buildings of Korea Research Reactor 1 stand in Nowon District, northern Seoul, on July 1.KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE
Half-life extended: Remnants of Korea's first nuclear reactor get reprieve with heritage designation
Seoul’s former KRR-1 reactor complex received temporary heritage status, halting demolition for six months as officials weigh permanent preservation.
The building that housed Korea's first nuclear research reactor has been granted temporary national heritage status just before its planned demolition, giving the facility six more months before the owners can attempt to push ahead with the demolition.
The reactor hall and auxiliary buildings of Korea Research Reactor 1 (KRR-1) in Nowon District, northern Seoul, have been temporarily designated National Registered Cultural Heritage, according to the Korea Heritage Service (KHS).
The KHS has reportedly notified the Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (Kaeri), which oversees demolition, and other relevant authorities of the designation.
The new designation prohibits demolition and other alterations to the site for six months starting on Wednesday.
The protected area includes the reactor hall, power and cooling facilities, neutron beam lines, laboratories and other structures essential to operating the reactor and containing radioactive materials.
The complex was designed by Kim Chung-up, one of Korea's most influential architects of the late 20th century.
The KRR-1 was imported from the U.S.-based energy and defense company General Atomics with assistance from the U.S. government in 1959. The reactor was used for research for more than three decades before operations ended in 1995 and is widely regarded as the starting point of Korea’s nuclear research program.
The interior of Korea Research Reactor 1’s Triga Mark II reactor hall in Nowon District, northern Seoul, on July 1.KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE
After the reactor was shut down in 1995, Kaeri sold the site to Kepco.
In 2007, the government, Kepco and Kaeri agreed to preserve the reactor itself but demolish the surrounding buildings. As a result, only the Triga Mark II research reactor was designated a National Registered Cultural Heritage in 2013.
Since then, radioactive decontamination work has been carried out at the site, and some auxiliary buildings have already been demolished.
"Members of the committee that oversees cultural heritage also argued in 2013 that the buildings surrounding the reactor should be preserved," a KHS official said. "But registration depended on the willingness of the owner and manager, so only the reactor itself was ultimately registered."
Calls to preserve the building have continued, particularly among architectural scholars. However, demolition plans recently moved forward as redevelopment plans took shape.
A framed diagram of the Triga Mark II research reactorKOREA HERITAGE SERVICE
"This [temporary designation] is both an emergency measure to prevent the loss of cultural heritage and the first case implemented under the relevant law," the KHS said.
Under the Act on the Conservation and Utilization of Modern and Contemporary Cultural Heritage, enacted in September 2023, the commissioner of the KHS may grant temporary registration before formally designating a site as National Registered Cultural Heritage if it is at risk of damage and requires urgent protection, or if there is insufficient time to be reviewed by a committee.
The current law states that a temporary designation expires unless the property is formally registered as a National Registered Cultural Heritage site within six months of the designation taking effect.
"This is a temporary measure," a KHS official said. "We will consult with Kepco, Kaeri and other relevant organizations to explore ways to preserve the site."
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
