Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo, President Chung Jae-hoon of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), and local government heads participate in a ceremony to sign an agreement to establish nuclear power decommissioning research institutes in the southeast area on April 15. (Photo: KHNP)

The southeast area of the nation will become a hub for nuclear power decommissioning research and development. Nuclear power decommissioning research institutes will be established in the Busan/Ulsan areas for light-water reactors, and the Gyeongju area for heavy-water reactors by 2021.

The global nuclear power decommissioning market is on the rise with a surge in the number of nuclear power units ordered to be dismantled permanently. The move may be construed as the government and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP)’s efforts to secure a leadership role in the global nuclear power decommissioning market by obtaining technologies related to nuclear power decommissioning and related manpower.

To this end, KHNP and the central government struck an agreement on April 15 to establish nuclear power decommissioning research institutes in the southeast area and they held a joint government-private sector meeting on the decommissioning industry. The upcoming nuclear power decommissioning research institutes are responsible for the development of technologies to dismantle nuclear power units, ordered to be closed permanently, in a safe fashion, serving as a testbed for commercialization, and manpower development.

Local governments selected as venues for the upcoming nuclear power decommissioning research institutes are expected to earn tax revenues and job creation. Spill-over effects such as job creation in the dismantling, decontamination and other related industries, clusters of decommissioning companies, and securing a global competitive edge through local firms’ expanded business opportunities in the emerging industries are expected to amount to tens of trillions of won.

In Korea, 12 nuclear power units are to be retired by 2030. If the cost of decommissioning one nuclear power unit is estimated 751.5 billion won based on figures in 2017, the value of the Korean nuclear power decommissioning market is predicted to stand at roughly 10 trillion won. The size of the global nuclear power decommissioning market is projected to rise to about 440 trillion won by 2050.

WANO 30th Anniversary Event

KHNP President Chung Jae-hoon introduced the excellence of Korean-made nuclear power units at an event to mark the 30th anniversary of the founding of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) in Tokyo on May 15. He noted that a legal process is to be done on the Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400), Korea’s homegrown nuclear power technology, which has obtained a standard design certification by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC).

Shin-Hanul Units 1 & 2 are being built with APR1400 on top of the construction of Shin-Kori Units 3 through 6. Four nuclear power units in the United Arab Emirates are also built using the APR-1400 reactor.

Korea’s Nuclear Power, 60 Years

Sixty years have passed since the first research reactor, TRIGA Mark-II, was introduced in Korea in 1959. The Korea Atomic Power 2019 (KAP 2019), in celebration of the 60th anniversary, took place at Jeju International Convention Center in Jeju from May 21-29.
Participants of the conference discussed the pending issues, the direction and measures to be redeemed for the nuclear industry and the future generation.

The KAP 2019 was hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It was organized by the Korea Atomic Industrial Forum and Korea Nuclear Society.