The Nuclear Safety And Security Commission announced that, as a result of a special inspection conducted from February of this year for four months on all nuclear power plants under Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, it found 75 cases of noncompliance with procedures.
Self-disposal refers to the disposal of radioactive waste in a manner that is incinerated, landfilled, or recycled like general waste when the concentration of nuclides falls below the acceptable limit set by the Nuclear Safety Act.
This special inspection was conducted as a follow-up to the audit results of KHNP that were announced by the Board of Audit and Inspection in February. At that time, the Board had noted that KHNP disposed of 4,569 items of radioactive waste, including batteries and lighting fixtures, within radiation management areas without approval from the Nuclear Safety And Security Commission from 2018 to 2023.
Since items used in management areas may be contaminated with radioactive materials, if there is a desire to self-dispose of these items, it is necessary to attach documentation proving that the radioactivity concentration is below the self-disposal allowable standards and obtain approval from the Nuclear Safety And Security Commission.
The Nuclear Safety And Security Commission conducted a special inspection to check for any additional violations besides those pointed out by the Board of Audit and Inspection and identified further cases where KHNP disposed of some radioactive waste without Nuclear Safety And Security Commission approval after only confirming surface contamination rather than radioactivity concentration. The identified items include batteries, lighting fixtures, fire and smoke detectors, temperature and humidity control devices, and fire extinguishers. The total number of violations is 5,412 items, with 75 instances.
However, the radioactivity concentration of the disposed items without approval was assessed to be about 2.37% of the self-disposal allowable standards, indicating minimal radiation impact and no safety issues.
The Nuclear Safety And Security Commission plans to impose fines for the violation cases and require KHNP to include measures to prevent recurrence, such as revising related procedures and strengthening self-disposal management, to ensure similar cases do not happen in the future.