Radioactive Waste Disposal
Project Set in Motion

Weolsung Nuclear Power Environmental Management Center to be inaugurated fully in December 2009

The project to build a radwaste disposal facility is finally gaining momentum after almost two decades of drifting, a nagging problem for Korea's atomic power industry. The following are excerpts from a written interview with Kim Jong-shin, president and CEO of Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) on how to construct and operate the projected radwaste disposal center.
Question: What impact will the start of the construction of the Weolsung Nuclear Power Environmental Management Center bring to the domestic nuclear power industry?
Answer: Atomic power is considered as the most environmentally-friendly and economical energy due to the production and supply of electricity at a cheaper price and a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Given the reality that Korea imports 97 percent of its energy demands, atomic power is quite essential.
In this backdrop, the efficient and safe management of radioactive waste is a prerequisite toward the continuous development of the atomic power industry.
Currently, most energy front-running countries have already built up a package of systems designed to deal with nuclear power units, radwaste disposal plants and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Out of the 31 atomic power countries in the world, six, including Korea and Taiwan, do not have such a radwaste disposal plant.
In the case of treatment of such low and intermediate level radioactive waste such as working garments, gloves and waste filters, the temporary storage at the Ulchin Nuclear Power Plant will be full in 2008. The launch of the nuclear waste disposal facility project can solve this problem, thus furthering the continued development of the atomic industry in the future.
Q: Will you tell our readers how to construct and operate the planned radwaste disposal facility?
A: The radwaste disposal facility will be built in a subterranean cave-type one in which a cylindrical artificial cavern is created at a depth of 80m to 130m for the treatment of radioactive waste. It is similar to the radwaste disposal facilities in Okiluoto, Finland and Forsmark, Sweden.
The project calls for establishing such facilities as a major equipment building, an office structure, an arboretum, a publication pavilion and an observatory on a 2.1 million square-meter lot. It will also include an ecological park and be developed as a tourist attraction by adopting environmentally-friendly concepts in all structures, including the outside walls of buildings.
Low and intermediate level radwaste, including working clothes, gloves, syringes, reagent bottles, diverse replacement parts, etc from nuclear power plants as well as hospitals and businesses are kept in specially designed containers and transported. Radwaste that is kept at temporary storage facilities at Kori, Youngkwang and Ulchin nuclear power plants are to be transported via exclusive ships along the given routes to the disposal facility near the Weolsung Nuclear Power Plant.
Q: Will you elaborate on when the radwaste disposal center will be opened for commercial operation and its size?
A: The radwaste disposal center will be designed to dispose of 800,000 drums of low & intermediate level radioactive waste on an area of 2.1 million sq, meters at Bonggil-ri, Yangbuk-myeon, Gyeongju City. The Phase I project that broke ground this time calls for the construction of a radwaste disposal center capable of disposing of 100,000 drums of radwaste by the end of 2009. Additional facilities will be built in stages. The project is expected to demonstrate Korea's technological prowess in the construction of Asia's first subterranean cave-type-type radwaste disposal center with its own technology.
Part of the projected Phase I facilities will be dedicated to the treatment of radwaste from late 2008 before the completion of the entire Phase I project in December 2009. The launch of the partial disposal of radwaste is slated for early 2009, and the partial opening of the radwaste disposal center will do not cause any problems in its operation.
Q: Will you tell us about the construction method of the radwaste disposal center and its safety?
A: The Weolsung radwaste disposal center will adopt the subterranean cave-type method to ensure safety, which is similar to underground- and cavern-type ones. Radwaste from each nuclear power unit is taken safely through specially-designed containers by sea. The Weolsung radwaste disposal center will repackage the radwaste in 10 cm-thick concrete disposal containers and dispose of it in a solid concrete cavern created in a layer of rocks 80 meters to 130 meters underground.
I'm sure that the radwaste disposal center, utilizing three protection layers - special manufactured containers, a solid concrete cavern and a rock foundation - will have no problems in terms of safety. The radwaste will be constantly managed, and as time goes, it will be returned to a natural state.
Q: What economic benefits will Gyeongju City reap for hosting the radwaste disposal center?
A: A survey conducted by Dr.
Lee Young-chan of Dongguk University's Gyeongju Campus Local Policy Research Institute shows that Gyeongju will see its population surge to twice that of 2005 by 2020, with businesses rising to 10,000, the number of houses increasing to about 28,000 and the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) soaring to about 6 trillion won.
The construction of the Weolsung radwaste disposal center will provide Gyeongju with an opportunity to spread its wings and transform itself into a tourist-cum high-tech city.
Massive projects to restore such cultural properties as the Hwangryong Temple Site, Munmu the Great Tomb and the Weolsung Haeja, as well as projects to invigorate the tourism industry will be implemented together with the construction of a village with traditional Korean-type houses, a Shilla Dynasty culture experience complex and a traditional Korean ceramic atelier village.
The North Gyeongsang provincial government plans to implement projects to transform the city into a high-tech metropolis with the construction of a backwater area for supporting the projected proton accelerator site,
a historical/urban culture hall, a convention center, an energy museum and an industrial complex. The provincial government plans to transform the Gyeongju area into a representative East Coast energy cluster that will accommodate energy/environment companies and an energy theme park. In addition to 300 billion won in special support funds, the proton accelerator project and the relocation of the KHNP head office will be implemented in accordance with the central government's promise to provide support in return for Gyeongju's accommodation of the radwaste disposal center.
This past April, a government committee headed by the prime minister examined and confirmed 55 projects to be implemented for providing support for the selection of the radwaste disposal center. Seven others will be pushed in the long-term perspective.
The radwaste disposal center will rake in 8.5 billion won per annum in the form of fees for taking in radwaste starting from the second half of 2010 when the center is open to operation. KHNP will invest 120 billion won in the construction of KHNP's official headquarters and employee housing. Annually, 4.2 billion won will be collected in provincial fiscal revenues after relocating the KHNP head office. The size of spending expenditures by about 1,000 KHNP employees is estimated at 10 billion won per annum.
Q: Will you tell us about the status of the domestic atomic power industry and KHNP's vision?
A: KHNP operates a total of 20 units at the Kori, Yongkwang, Weolsung and Ulchin Nuclear Power Plants. The domestic industry ranks sixth in terms of atomic power generation and it now accounts for 40 percent of the nation's total energy consumption. In particular, the atomic power industry has contributed to cutting down on power generation production costs. For example, prices soared 199.5 percent during the period between 1982 and 2006, but power charges edged up a negligible 3.3 percent. Atomic power is behind the industrial competitiveness Korea has been enjoying despite the weak energy supply-demand structure.
KHNP has a vision of becoming a "global energy leader"with a priority on humans, the environment and technology. The company aims to post 8.9 trillion won in sales and 1.1 trillion won in operating profit by the year 2015. It will do this by raising the proportion of revenues from the new and renewable energy sector and the percentage of overseas sales to 7 percent and 3 percent, respectively, through the implementation of Korea's entry into the global atomic power industry, the construction of next-generation nuclear power units and the expansion of new/renewable energy projects.
Q: What are the plans to dispose of spent nuclear fuel and its prospects?
A: During the 253rd session held in December 2004, the Atomic Power Committee set a basic guideline calling for the implementation of the spent nuclear fuel disposal project after mustering a public consensus through full discussions in the future. I understand that a working-level committee under the umbrella of the 'conflict Management Committee of the National Energy Commission,'which was formed in accordance with the Basic Energy Act, effective from this year, is now studying how to put the issue of spent nuclear fuel disposal to public discussions.
Issues for public discussion will include the treatment of spent nuclear fuel or its direct disposal, its storage inside power units and concentrated storage, dry storage and wet storage outside the units. Based on the public discussion process, representatives from all walks of life are expected to reach a consensus on the management of spent nuclear fuel in 2008.
I'm aware that the public opinion gathering process on spent nuclear fuel will be implemented in the a way that time and national power are not wasted by capitalizing on the lessons and experiences we have accumulated in the process of selecting the low and intermediate level radwaste disposal center site.
Temporary spent nuclear fuel storage facilities at nuclear units will be full by 2016. If the construction of a mid-term spent fuel storage facility is decided by the end of 2008, I believe it will be possible to secure the necessary facility for the management of spent nuclear fuel by 2016.
Q: What is the standing of Korea's atomic power technology and safety?
A: While traveling abroad on a business on many occasions, I feel uneasy whenever our flight is rocked by atmospheric turbulence. However, as a person who has been with the atomic power field for more than 35 years, I've never had thoughts of insecurity, even when l lived with my kids in an official residence near the Kori Nuclear Power Plant for more than 10 years.
As you well know, the nation's nuclear power construction and operations are globally top-rated. Compared to the semiconductor industry, we are equal to the levels of Samsung Electronics. The Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant is 95 percent technologically self-sufficient. In particular, technology in overall project management, nuclear fuel production and construction is wholly self-sufficient.
As of the end of 2006, Korea's capacity factor stood at 92.3 percent, quietly surpassing the global average of 79.5 percent. A higher capacity factor means that the nuclear units are operated without shutdowns or accidents. I want the public to recognize this fact.
The Weolsung radwaste disposal center is now under the control of KHNP, but a special entity will be created to take charge of the management of the radwaste facility. The government has already put on a public notice a bill to legislate the act on the establishment of radwaste complexes and the management of radwaste in order to separate an entity in charge of the management of radwaste from radwaste producers, a departure from the current system of radwaste producer-cum radwaste manager. nw

1. Tokyo Electric Power. 2. Waste Depository at UKAEA & AMEC. 3. Roka Shomura, a repository in Japan. 4. ZWILAG, the Swiss installation for all categories of radioactive waste. 5. Onkalo underground research facility in Finland. 6. Waste depository in Flamanville, France