Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power to Construct Dry Storage Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel at Gori Nuclear Power Plant

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] A dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at the Kori Nuclear Power Plant will be constructed.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) held a board meeting on the 7th at the Radiation Health Institute in Jung-gu, Seoul, and approved the "Basic Plan (Draft) for the Construction of the Kori Spent Nuclear Fuel Dry Storage Facility." The dry storage facility to be installed within the Kori Nuclear Power Plant site will be built to store metal casks containing spent nuclear fuel inside a building. This is the first time that a dry storage facility for pressurized water reactors (PWR) will be constructed on a domestic nuclear power plant site. For heavy water reactors, there has been a spent nuclear fuel interim storage facility (MACSTOR) operating since 1992 at the Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk.

According to the plan, the project is expected to take a total of seven years for design, licensing, and construction. The facility aims to begin operation by 2030, before the storage capacity at Kori Nuclear Power Plant becomes saturated. This facility will be used temporarily under the condition that spent nuclear fuel is promptly transported out once an interim storage facility is constructed, in accordance with the government's basic plan for high-level radioactive waste. The import of spent nuclear fuel from regions other than Kori Nuclear Power Plant to this facility is strictly prohibited. The facility capacity will be built to the minimum necessary amount of 2,880 assemblies until the interim storage facility becomes operational.

The special law outlining the procedures for transferring spent nuclear fuel from the dry storage facility to the interim storage facility and the high-level radioactive waste disposal site is currently under review in the National Assembly. In the case of Kori Nuclear Power Plant, the spent nuclear fuel storage pool is expected to be full around 2031. Accordingly, KHNP has been promoting a plan to build a dry storage facility on-site to operate until an interim storage facility or permanent disposal facility is established.

KHNP stated, "We plan to submit proposals to the board for the construction of dry storage facilities at Hanbit and Hanul Nuclear Power Plants in the future," adding, "Dry storage facilities have been operated safely in 22 out of 33 countries worldwide that operate nuclear power plants."