The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission held a meeting Friday and approved the plan to permanently suspend the operation of the Gori-1 nuclear reactor.
 
Following the green-light, the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company is expected to halt the reactor's operations from June 19 and cool off the nuclear fuel.
 
A disassembling process will begin in earnest from 2022.
 
Immediately following the suspension, all the spent nuclear fuel inside the reactor will be transferred to a storage pool.
 
Gori-1 began commercial operation in April 1978. Its 30-year lifespan expired in 2007 but was extended to operate ten more years for a total of four decades of power generation.