Govt. to Spend 500 billion Won to Treat Low- and Intermediate-Level Radwaste

CEO Cha Sung-soo of Korea Radioactive Waste Agency (KORAD). (Photos: KORAD)

The government decided to pour 500 billion won in the next five years to manage radwaste in a safely and efficiently fashion.

The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), chaired by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, held the ninth AEC meeting at the Seoul Government Complex on Dec. 28 and approved the 2nd master plan on the management of low- and intermediate- level radioactive waste.

The plan calls for the expansion of a variety of infrastructure projects, the strengthening of capabilities to receive, inspect and treat radwaste, and the establishing of a safety-prioritized management system.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun speaks at the ninth meeting of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) at the Seoul Government Complex on Dec. 28. (Photo on the courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae website)

In his speech at the meeting, Prime Minister Chung said the management of radwaste is a task required to be solved for the peaceful use of nuclear power.

He expressed hope that the plan will become the groundwork to manage low- and intermediate-level radwaste safer more efficiently.

The recently passed master plan is required to be established on the management of low- and intermediate-level radwaste every five years. A low- and intermediate-level radwaste treatment site is a place for managing radioactive clothes and auxiliary goods, excluding spent nuclear fuel.

The takeaway of the plan is to raise the nation’s capabilities to treat the whole of radwaste in connection with high-level radwaste, to be established in the future.

An additional 15,991 drums of low- and intermediate-level radwaste was discharged during the period between 2015 and 2019, pushing the cumulative amount to 145,213 drums. If this trend continues, cumulative radwaste amounts are predicted to surge to about 220,000 drums in 30 years and around 500,000 drums in 50 years.

The government plans to have the first phased radwater treatment facility for 100,000 intermediate-level radwaste drums, a second phase facility handle low-level 125,000 radwaste drums, and a third facility managing extreme low-level 160,000 radwaste drums.

A first phase low- and intermediate-level radwaste treatment facility made its debut in Gyeongju in 2014, and second- and third-phase radwaste treatment facilities are to be secure as planned.

A view of Korea Radioactive Waste Agency headquarters in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do.