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The Public Engagement Commission on Spent Nuclear Fuel Management (PECOS) has set 2055 as the target year permanent facilities in South Korea to process spent nuclear fuel, a form of radioactive waste generated in the reactor operation process. Because the half-life for spent fuel rods - the period over which their hazardous potential declines - stretches to up to 300,000 years, nuclear power plants remain unsustainable without permanent facilities to process their waste.

PECOS chairman Hong Doo-seung held a press conference in front of the government complex in Sejong on Nov. 18 to present an agenda for spent nuclear fuel management and the committee‘s activities since its launch just over a year ago. Hong also asked for the committee’s period of activity to be extended from its ending date at year end until next April.

PECOS is a private advisory body established in Oct. 2013 by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy. Its purpose is to gather opinions on the spent nuclear fuel rod issue and submit recommendations to the central government.

The target year of 2055 set by PECOS for operating permanent processing facilities take into account the fact that the lifespan and permit for the dry fuel rod storage facilities at the heavy-water Wolseong reactor could be extended to as late as 2051. The committee has already advised finishing construction by 2040 and preparing for a launch in 2045, after a five-year pilot run.

All other reactors besides Wolseong‘s are light-water reactors, with spent fuel rods currently kept in wet storage in swimming pools or other water tanks. The first saturation point is expected to be reached in 2016, but can be delayed by moving the fuel between reactors at the same site - for example, by shifting waste from the first reactor to available spots at the second - or setting up compact storage facilities. Even then, saturation would be reached as early as 2024.

Some are arguing that saturation can be put off by reprocessing spent fuel rods from the light-water reactors, which still have uranium, and reusing the fuel.

But reprocessing is currently banned under the South Korea-US Atomic Energy Agreement.

The only solution might be to build additional dry storage facilities to use until the permanent processing facilities are up. But in addition to the practical dangers of moving spent fuel rods, the move also stands to trigger social frictions - including possible objections from residents around the designated facility sites.

By Jung Se-ra, staff reporter

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