An analysis found that the spent nuclear fuel storage facilities at major domestic nuclear power plants will reach saturation starting next year. There have been concerns that the storage capacity at nuclear plants was approaching its limit, but this is the first time specific figures have been presented.
According to the "10-year outlook for spent nuclear fuel storage status and saturation rates by nuclear plant," submitted by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power to Rep. Yoo Yong-won's People Power Party office on the 14th, the saturation rate of spent nuclear fuel storage at the Kori nuclear plant is projected to reach 95.1% next year, up from 93.5% this year.
The saturation rate at the Hanbit nuclear plant is expected to rise from 85.3% this year to 95.1% in 2029, and the Wolsong heavy water reactor is forecast to increase from the current 84.6% to 98.6% in 2033.
KHNP has unveiled a plan to lower the saturation rate by using dry storage facilities starting in the early to mid-2030s. Spent nuclear fuel burned in reactors is stored wet in pools at the plants, but when the pools reach saturation or when decommissioning must proceed, it must be moved to dry storage facilities within the plant sites.
The problem is that building dry storage facilities takes considerable time. Under the Special Act on the Management of High-Level Radioactive Waste, which takes effect at the end of this month, installing dry storage facilities requires approval from an administrative commission under the prime minister and local consent. Site selection, resident consent, and facility installation could take decades.
For this reason, the government recently placed on the agenda at the South Korea–U.S. summit the need to "revise the nuclear cooperation agreement to resolve the issue of spent nuclear fuel reprocessing." Japan secured the authority to reprocess spent nuclear fuel and to enrich uranium to below 20% through its agreement. Rep. Yoo also argued, "We must secure the authority to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel by revising the South Korea–U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement."