A plan is being pursued to clearly distinguish the roles of regulations used for licensing and safety reviews of nuclear facilities and to manage them systematically within the related legal framework.
The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said it received a report on Mar. 26 at its 2026-4 meeting on a plan titled "Plan to overhaul the regulatory framework of technical standards for nuclear safety regulation."
The overhaul was prepared to manage, more clearly within the Nuclear Safety Act framework, the regulatory guides and review guides that the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) has used during the licensing of nuclear facilities. As there had been criticism that the nature and status of various guides used in safety reviews were mixed, the intent is to distinguish and organize the roles of standards, commentaries, and practical manuals.
Under the direction of the overhaul, items within KINS guides that must be met will be elevated to technical standards of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission. Methodologies or interpretive criteria to meet the technical standards will be newly established and managed as separate regulatory guides of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission. In addition, concrete technical methods and interpretations used in actual safety reviews will be separately established as KINS manuals.
To support this framework, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission will prepare an administrative rule to codify the management system, including the procedures for establishing and revising regulatory guides and KINS manuals and the standards for public disclosure. In addition, it decided to operate a technical standards working review committee under the Nuclear Safety Expert Committee, an external expert body.
The overhaul covers a total of 43 KINS guides, amounting to about 10,000 pages. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission will first begin work on roughly 5,400 pages of regulatory guides and review guides in the pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant field, which has high usage this year, and then expand the overhaul step by step to other fields.
KINS review guides currently disclosed will continue to be available through the integrated management system for nuclear safety standards, and the newly overhauled regulatory guides and manuals will also be released to the public as soon as their overhaul is completed.
Chairperson Choi Won-ho of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said, "If the regulatory framework of technical standards becomes clearer, the transparency of the licensing review process will increase, and trust in nuclear safety regulation will also be strengthened," adding, "We will complete the overhaul as quickly as possible."
Meanwhile, at the meeting that day, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission also deliberated and resolved the "Partial amendment to the rules on the operation of Nuclear Safety and Security Commission meetings." The amendment adds construction and operation permits for nuclear fuel cycle facilities to the items subject to deliberation and resolution, and adds research and educational reactors and radioactive waste management facilities to the items subject to deliberation and resolution for decommissioning and closure.
In addition, the method for acting on behalf of duties when the Chairperson is unable to perform duties will change. Previously, the Secretary-General would act when the Chairperson was incapacitated, and if the Secretary-General was also unable to perform duties, a Commissioner would act in order of seniority among Commissioners. Reflecting the Ministry of Government Legislation's opinion that this could be discriminatory, it will be changed so that a Commissioner predesignated by the Chairperson will act on behalf of duties going forward.