KAIF Chairman Cho Seok and nuclear power experts around the world pose for a group photo session during an opening ceremony of the 31st Korea Atomic Power Annual Conference in Busan on April 20.(Photo:KAIF)

Some 600 nuclear power experts from the around the world assembled for the 31st Korea Atomic Power Annual Conference in Busan from April 20 to 21 to discuss how to cope with the post-2020 climate change pact. 

The international conference was organized by the Korea Atomic Industry Forum (KAIF) and hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) under the theme “Post-2020, Nuclear Power: Our Choice and Challenge for the Planet.”

The world stands at the crossroad of choice of atomic power. A new international climate change agreement that has legal force and is applicable to all countries is currently being negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). An effective agreement that was adopted at COP21 in Paris last December would include quantitative mitigations commitments from all major emitters and result in concrete action to reduce gas GHG emissions. In line with the consultation, the world is eager to look back on the current status and role of atomic power while facing the “Post-2020” era, and to pursue harmonized sustainability by considering nuclear ethics.

The participants of the event were from 90 organizations and companies from 12 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Finland, Sweden, Japan and Taiwan. 

Speakers at the Plenary Session I on April 20 NOAH were Prof. Tomas Kaberger of Chalmers University of Technology; former Prof. Rashid Sarkar of Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology; Atsuyuki Suzuki, ex-president of the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency; John Barrett, president of the Canadian Nuclear Association; Kim Kung-ku, head of SMART Development Agency at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute; Prof. Suh Kyun-ryul of Seoul National University Nuclear Power and Atomic Engineering Department; Prof. Chung Bum-jin of Kyunghee University; and Lim Jae-kyu, chief of the Korea Institute of Energy Research, Climate Change Research Division.

KAIF Chairman Cho Seok delivered remarks at an opening session that took place on April 20 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. MSIP Minister Choi Yang-hee gave a commemorative message. Other speakers of the opening session included President Park Joo-heon of Korea Institute of Energy Research, Mohamed Al Hammadi, CEO of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp. (ENEC), Prof. Kaberger, and Deputy assistant Secretary Edward McGinnis of the U.S. Energy Department. 

Speakers of the Plenary Session II, titled “Spent Nuclear Fuel: When, What and How?” included Juhani Vira of POSIVA; Director Bernard Monot of Areva; and Prof. Yoon Jong-il of Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering at KAIST.

Speakers of the Plenary Session Ⅲ, titled “Ethics and Sustainability of Nuclear Power Industry,”  included Kim Kwang-am, a member of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission of Korea; President Fred Dermarkear of CANDU Owners Group; Jeff Taylor, a director of Westinghouse; Koh Chang-suk, head of KHNP Procurement Division; and Geoffrey Rothwell, senior researcher of OECD-NEA.

The KAP annual conference coincided with the International Nuclear Energy Korea 2016, which attracted some 70 foreign and Korean exhibitors, including KHNP, KEPCO E&C, KEPCO NF, KEPCO KPS, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, and Korea Radioactive Waste Agency as well as ROSATOM State Atomic Energy Corp., Westinghouse and TUV-SUD. 

The conference also had such side events as a Korean-Russian session on back-end fuel cycle, a job fair on major nuclear power companies and a nuclear equipment and materials purchase negotiations session.