Nuke Waste
Storage Project

Vertical, horizontal underground tunnels to be built to store nuke wastes: Vice MOCIE Minister Lee for Energy announces official plan

An underground nuclear waste storage will be built from the end of next year in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province as announced by Vice Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Won-gul at a media briefing on June 28.
He said the nuclear waste storage facility will be built underground in Bonggil-ri, in the ancient city in the first stage of the Nuclear Waste Storage Facility Construction Plan.
The vice MOCIE minister for energy said the underground tunnel will be some 80 meters deep to store some 100,000 drums of nuclear waste material when it is completed in 2009. Various support facilities will also be built on the ground including a temporary storage facility, inspection facility, and treatment facility by the time the underground facility is completed.
The plans for the construction of additional storage facility for the remaining 700,000 drums of nuclear waste will be either on the ground or underground depending on the result of the underground facility.
The government on Nov. 3, last year has designated the Bonggil-ri area as the site for middle and low nuclear waste storage facilities with the support of citizens of Gyeongju and declared officially the area as the power development reserve district on Jan. 2. Under the decision, the Korea Hydro-Nuclear Power Co. has been busy with various related work including the survey on environmental effect from the projected nuclear site, the evaluation of the soil in the area, and the treatment methods, among others, all concerned with design and the issuances of licenses to start the project.
The KHNP set up the committee for the selection of treatment methods made of experts in the various areas. KHNP officials said the company alone can do all of the related work, but it has decided to do the work through the committee for transparency and objectivity in the decision regarding the selection of treatment methods. The committee is made of 16 experts in the areas of safety evaluation, soil quality, civil engineering, environment, and social science, to name just a few divided into two groups. The technology subcommittee made of 7 members and the regional society environment subcommittee with 9 members. The committee and subcommittees held a number of meetings to go over key issues surrounding the construction of the underground nuclear waste storage including the work related to designing the facility and the safety matters, technology, operation, the licensing, the public acceptability, environment, and economy.
On June 28, the committee convened its formal meeting and decided to build an underground storage facility with 12 of the 15 participating members voting for it, while three members voted for an alternative method. The committee's decision was formally announced through the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. Before making the decision, the committee secured advises from foreign companies with the experiences of having built the nuclear waste storage facilities in their countries including INIEC of Spain and S&R Co. of Finland. The committee conducted additional survey of the waste site as advised by those foreign companies. The committee also went over the location of various facilities at the site based on treatment methods under a joint inspection before making its decision official.
The site has two kinds of rock formations; one granite and the other less hard rocks. The granites are located is located below the site where nuclear power stations Shinwolsung Nos.3 & 4 were to be built, while the other rocks are found behind the site where Shinwolsung Nos. 1 & 2 were to be built.
The geological survey on the site and analysis of its result and advises from foreign companies indicated that the underground facility should be built on the granite side while other facilities should be built on the non-granite rock side.
Water penetration into the storage facilities should be minimized to prolong the safety and life of the storages. The storage facilities should be designed to be able to secure the extended monitoring of the treatment facilities, soundness of structures and the prevention of intruders due to carelessness. Through a conservative designing, multiple walls are set up to prevent the outflow of nuclear radiation. The first wall is to secure the safety of nuclear waste in the storage, the second wall is made of concrete to further increase the safety of the first wall. The third wall is for securing safety for people in their daily lives by building a natural wall.
The cylindrical underground storages will be designed in two ways depending on the wastes to be stored in them. The low-line waste will be stored on top of one another after a tunnel has been dug. The middle-line waste will be put into the storage tunnel after building a concrete interior wall to secure the safety of the waste and make sure that it won't be exposed outside.
In the proposed waste storage site in Gyeongju, some 800,000 drums of nuclear waste will be stored. The plan calls for the construction of 42 vertical cylindrical containers 48 meters tall and 26.8 meters cross big enough to store 700,000 drums of nuclear waste. Five horizontal tunnels 140 meters long and 12 meters high and 20 meters wide will be built to store 100,000 drums of nuclear waste. A survey on earth quality on the site showed that it is best to build cylindrical tunnels some 80 to 130 meters underground below the sea level, while horizontal tunnels best be built some 80 meters below the sea level. The locations will be reviewed again based on the results of yet another special survey to be undertaken later.
Support facilities to be built in the site will include a medical clinic, research institute, a waste disposal building, a temporary storage facility, an office, a display facility, a central warehouse, and a facility repair shop, among others.
In September, the basic plan and a comprehensive design contract will be established, followed by the construction management license application and the approval for the plan for the development of power resources. The construction of the storage facilities and support facilities will be launched in January, 2008 and targeted to be completed by December, 2009, the first stage phase of the project to store 100,000 drums of nuclear waste. Gyeongju City already received 300 billion won from the government in a special support fund for its decision to locate the nuclear waste storage facilities near the city in a vote held by residents of the ancient capital of the Silla Dynasty. The city will get additional benefits from the relocation of the KHNP to the city, the delivery of nuclear waste in the form of delivery fees and jobs related to the project when it is in full swing. nw

Vice MOCIE Minister Lee Won-gul announces the plan to build an underground nuclear waste storage facility near Gyeongju to media on June 28.

A drawing of underground nuclear waste storage facilities both vertical and horizontal some 80 meters deep from the ground.