Review Committee Concludes on "Centralized Interim Storage and Disposal" of Spent Nuclear Fuel

4th Survey Response Rate 63.6%... 24.7%p Increase Compared to 2nd Survey

Kim So-young, Chairperson of the Spent Nuclear Fuel Reexamination Committee, announcing the results of the nationwide public consultation on the spent nuclear fuel management policy review on the 30th. (Photo by KTV capture)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] In a survey conducted by the Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Policy Review Committee (Review Committee) regarding 'securing management facilities,' the response rate for 'centralized interim storage and permanent disposal' recorded 63.6%. This is an increase of 24.7 percentage points compared to the 38.9% response rate in the second survey.

On the 30th, the Review Committee announced the 'Nationwide Opinion Collection Results on Mid- to Long-term Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Plans' containing this information and held a policy discussion forum.

Centralized interim storage and permanent disposal refers to a method where spent nuclear fuel is temporarily stored at each nuclear power plant site, then stored and managed at an interim storage facility secured outside the nuclear power plant, and a permanent disposal facility is secured on the same site as the interim storage facility for permanent disposal.

Besides centralized interim storage and permanent disposal, there are other spent nuclear fuel management scenarios such as ▲centralized interim storage ▲distributed interim storage ▲temporary storage followed by permanent disposal ▲centralized interim storage followed by permanent disposal ▲distributed interim storage followed by permanent disposal.

To collect nationwide opinions, the Review Committee conducted a recruitment survey for a total of 20,009 people over one month starting April 17. Among them, 549 citizen participants with representativeness were selected by reflecting only demographic characteristics (region, gender, age) of those willing to participate.

Subsequently, the Review Committee collected opinions over about three months, starting with an orientation for the citizen participants in May, followed by online deliberative learning, first and second comprehensive discussion meetings, and culminating in the final (fourth) survey on August 2.

Regarding the 'spent nuclear fuel policy decision-making system,' 91.9% of the citizen participants responded to the question "Should a Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Committee (tentative name) be newly established separately from the current Nuclear Promotion Committee?" The response rate also increased compared to the second (78.5%) and third (87.2%) surveys.

Regarding the 'site selection method,' 80.1% responded in favor of "scientific evaluation of site suitability followed by majority consent of local residents."

In questions about learning achievement, the correct answer rate for items related to background knowledge of nuclear power generation significantly increased compared to the second and third surveys, indicating that the deliberation process was effective.

For example, the 'correct answer rate for energy import-related items' rose by 20.3 percentage points from 48.2% in the first survey to 68.5% in the fourth survey.

The citizen participants evaluated that the deliberation materials and expert presentations helped in organizing their positions during the public discussion process.

Regarding the evaluation that "deliberation materials were helpful," 96.1% responded affirmatively, and 92.6% responded that "expert presentations were helpful."

Kim Soyoung, Chairperson of the Review Committee, said, "Based on the nationwide opinion collection results, we expect more specific and progressive discussions by sector to continue so that a highly acceptable spent nuclear fuel management policy can be established in the future."

Chairperson Kim added, "After reviewing the nationwide opinion collection results and discussion forum matters, we plan to prepare a policy recommendation that comprehensively covers the review opinions collected since the committee's launch in May last year."