ANKARA

South Korea on Thursday decommissioned the country's first nuclear reactor, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) said.

The NSSC said that the full dismantling of the commercial reactor is expected to take 12 years due to challenges related to the construction of spent nuclear fuel storage facilities, Yonhap News reported.

Unit 1 of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant, located in the southeastern city of Busan, was permanently shut down in June 2017 after operating for about 40 years since April 1978.

Last year in May, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co started chemical decontamination to remove radioactive materials from the reactor.

South Korea has 26 nuclear reactors while 20 of them are currently in operation which produce 20,854 megawatts electricity, while the remaining five are undergoing regulatory maintenance and one has been suspended after decades of service.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid