Following yesterday's IAEA disclosure of South Korea's past production of uranium metal, Seoul announced Tuesday it produced the uranium metal in the 1980s to power an atomic power plant.

The Ministry of Science and Technology said it produced uranium metal in 1982 from imported phosphate ores, which contain 0.02 percent of uranium.

The ministry said that most of the uranium metal produced at that time was used as fuel for the nuclear reactor in Wolsong, North Gyeongsang Province and that 150 kilograms of the uranium metal had been left over after supplying the atomic power plant.

The ministry explained a small amount of the 150 kilograms had been used in the 2000 laser uranium-enrichment experiments.

The government's announcement comes shortly after the IAEA disclosed that Seoul had recently admitted to producing 150 kilograms of uranium metal in the 1980s at three facilities it had kept secret from the U.N. nuclear watchdog.