Korea Radioactive Waste Agency (KORAD) held the 2024 Annual Congress on Radioactive Waste Management at Rahan Hotel in Gyeongju on Oct. 31.
The annual congress presented KORAD’s vision to manage all radioactive waste generated in Korea, from low-level to high-level radioactive waste with a strong sense of responsibility.
The event portrayed its role as a solution leader in the field of radioactive waste management to foster a radioactive industrial ecosystem, including a Korean-style disposal system that people can trust, and private businesses in the field of radioactive waste management.
In order to achieve this, KORAD announced tasks, such as strengthening the predictability of the future industry, including the amount of waste generated by nuclear power plant decommissioning and smart waste disposal sites utilizing the 4th industrial technology, strengthening networking through cooperation with overseas waste management organizations, and certifying business continuity in connection with business risk management.
The annual congress is an opportunity to announce KORAD’s achievements in the previous year and its direction for the next year, given the long-term nature of the waste management business.
This year, the event was held in conjunction with a regular general meeting of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society to foster ecosystems of the radioactive waste management industry.
It was held in conjunction with awards for outstanding performers and the announcement of the results of KORAD’s human resource development program.
“KORAD is making the history of Korea’s radioactive waste management as a dedicated organization,” said Cho Sung-don, chairman of KORAD, “We hope that this year will be the first year of high-level radioactive waste management in Korea.”
Smart Day to Announce Digital Transformation Achievements
KORAD announced on Nov. 17 that it held Smart Day events to share the digital transformation achievements of low - and intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal facilities at its low- and intermediate-level business headquarters located in Munmudaewang-myeon of Gyeongju, on Nov. 15.
KORAD is promoting a digital transformation, including the automation of structural inspection of disposal facilities and ICT solution projects in the nuclear power field.
Structural inspection automation is a project selected for the Public Innovation Demand—Based New Technology Commercialization Project by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Public Procurement Service in 2021. It is a joint project between KORAD and Sierra Base.
By using drones to perform maintenance and soundness checks on structures at a radioactive waste disposal site, the digital transformation greatly reduces the period of work that would normally take more than one week if performed by humans to one day.
The ICT solution project in the nuclear field was selected as an excellent case of KORAD’s digital-based business transformation contest.
Among them, the Digital Twin Storage Management System automatically registers the storage location of each radioactive waste when it is brought in Smart Acceptance Inspection Equipment can check the results of weight tests and nuclide analysis of radioactive waste with photographs and is made in collaboration with NSE.
Radioactive Waste Management Cooperation MOU with Czech Republic’s SURAO
On Sept. 20, KORAD signed an MOU with the Czech Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (SÚRAO) of the Czech Republic to promote cooperation in waste management.
SURAO is an organization under the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade in charge of radioactive waste disposal.
It operates three low- and medium-level radioactive waste disposal facilities. It has been conducting a site survey to select a site for high-level radioactive waste disposal since 2015.
The MOU signing ceremony was attended by KORAD President Cho Sung-don and SURAO President Lukas Vondrovic.
The two organizations confirmed their intention to strengthen cooperation in the field of radioactive waste management, including joint research on radioactive waste disposal systems, sharing information on radioactive waste management policy formulation and site selection procedures and dispatching experts to improve the quality of human resource development programs.
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