KINS to Review Additional Construction of Wolseong Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility on the 10th

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission will hold its 113th meeting from 10:30 a.m. on the 10th to reconsider the additional construction of the spent nuclear fuel storage facility (MACSTOR) at the Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk. This issue has been ongoing since the 111th meeting in November last year, where no conclusion was reached.

MACSTOR is a dry storage facility where spent nuclear fuel, removed from the reactor and initially stored in a wet storage facility, is transferred after several years once the heat has dissipated for temporary storage. Spent nuclear fuel consists of fuel materials and byproducts taken from the reactor after nuclear power plant operation and is classified as high-level radioactive waste with very strong radiation intensity. In principle, spent nuclear fuel must be stored underground at depths of 500 meters or more for long-term storage and undergo reprocessing. Although over 95% can be recycled through reprocessing, South Korea lacks a separate high-level radioactive waste disposal site for this process, so spent nuclear fuel is temporarily stored onsite at nuclear power plants through MACSTOR.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) applied for an operational change permit in April 2016 to construct additional MACSTOR units. KHNP originally planned to build 14 MACSTOR units but, due to economic reasons, only constructed 7 units initially, which have been in use since 2010.

The problem is that the MACSTOR at the Wolsong headquarters may soon reach saturation. This is why there are criticisms that the installation should have been done earlier. As of June last year, the storage rate of MACSTOR at Wolsong headquarters was 92.2%, and it is predicted to reach full capacity by November next year.

Kim Kyung-soo, president of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society and senior researcher at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, stated at a press conference on the 8th, "MACSTOR must be secured in a timely manner to ensure the safe operation of nuclear power plants." Yoon Jong-il, vice president and professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, added, "Since the construction period requires 1 year and 7 months, if a decision is not made by the first half of this year, an unprecedented situation could occur where operations from Wolsong Unit 2 to Unit 4 are suspended."

On the other hand, some opinions suggest that the NSSC's review of the MACSTOR expansion is premature. Civic groups such as the Anti-Nuclear Citizens' Action and the National Council on High-Level Nuclear Waste held a press conference in front of the NSSC during the 111th meeting, stating, "Since the government has announced that policy decisions will be made through public discussion before proceeding, the NSSC should not force the review."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.