안전국가 정착을 위한 입법적 과제 = Legislative Agenda to Build a Safe State -A focus on Energy Safety Laws-

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The buzz word in Korea for the year 2015 was ‘Security (Sicherheit)’ that was directly related to the life of people. We have seen a series of disasters such as the nuclear power plant accident caused by the earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011, the hydrofluoric acid leak in Gumi on September 27, 2012 which killed 5 people and injured 18 others, the roof collapse at the Gyungju Mauna Ocean Resort on February 17, 2014 which killed 10 students, and the Sewol ferry accident, one of the biggest marine accident, off cost Jindo on April 16, 2014 which claimed 300 passengers. The raison d’etre of a state is to protect its people and provide security. The basic reason of the existence and responsibility of a state is to protect personal security of the people. The task for a state is to provide safety and security to the people and protect them from any risks and harms such as nuclear, gas, and electricity-related accidents. A state provides such security and protection for its people primarily through ‘a provider for nuclear power, gas, and electricity service’, and specifically three Acts including ‘Nuclear Safety Act’, ‘Electric Utility Act’, and three Gas Acts namely ‘High-Pressure Gas Safety Control Act’, ‘Safety Control and Business of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Act’, and ‘Urban Business Act’ are the tools for a state to live up for its purpose. For the purpose of make safe Korea, this paper proposes the followings for each Act. The ‘Nuclear Safety Act’ needs new provisions on the permanent shut down and dismantle of aging nuclear reactors. ‘Radioactive Waste Management Act’ needs new provisions on the public discussion on the selection of a site for processing spent nuclear fuel. The ‘Electric Utility Act’ needs to be split into ‘Electric Utility Act’ and ‘Electric Safety Act’. The three Gas Acts needs to be separated into ‘Gas Business Act’ and ‘Gas Safety Act’. Finally, the paper suggests modification on the ‘Government Organization Act’ in order to settle a legal process to prevent, prepare, deal with, and restore any safety-related accident such as the Sewol Ferry accident or energy-related accidents (nuclear, electricity, or gas). One of the suggestions is to place a ‘Special Emergency Center’ specifically related to aviation, energy, chemical, gas, and telecommunication under the Ministry of Public Safety and Security. Modification on these Acts: ‘Nuclear Safety Act’, ‘Electric Utility Act’, and three Gas Acts (‘High-Pressure Gas Safety Control Act’, ‘Safety Control and Business of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Act’, and ‘Urban Business Act’) is not enough to protect the people from risks and harms caused by nuclear, gas, and electricity-related accidents. Frequent inspection and monitoring on the related facilities is required to design a better safety management system.