[Editorial] Build spent-fuel storage facilities faster

Politicians must not waste more time over the project and hurry to set the legal grounds for sustainable nuclear energy.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) gave the go-ahead to the construction of dry storage for spent nuclear fuel within the Kori reactor complex. The facility will be built within the plant and will store waste in metal casks. The storage is expected to be operational from 2030.

The project will be a milestone step toward processing of spent fuel. High-level nuclear waste and highly radioactive residue is left after uranium rods are irradiated inside a reactor. A safe disposal system ensures sustainable operation of nuclear reactors. Operating nuclear reactors without them is just like building a house without a toilet system.

Spent rods amounted to 18,600 tons as of September last year and are stored in wet storage temporarily. Waste at the Kori nuclear plant has reached 87.6 percent of storage capacity and there won’t be any more room by 2031. Without additional storage facilities, the nuclear complex cannot continue operating.

The situation is similar at other nuclear power plants, too. Hanbit and Hanul complexes will reach their storage limit by 2031 and 2032, respectively. Since the conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration is expanding the share of nuclear energy for energy security, the spent fuel crisis could arrive even sooner. Through the momentum from the Kori plant, other plants must also speed up the plan of adding more storage facilities before it is too late.

The long-term roadmap of building interim storage and permanent waste disposal facilities outside reactor complexes must be carried out as planned. The government hopes to establish an outside interim disposal facility within 20 years and final underground facility within 37 years. But it has not gotten around to find locations for the sites. Finland in 2025 will have the world’s first underground spent fuel storage facility and Sweden will follow suit in the early 2030s. Both countries began the projects in the 1970s and 80s and are finally near the goal, half a century later. That means gathering public support for, and communal agreement on, the storage project is that hard.

There are three special bills on high-level radioactive waste management pending at the National Assembly. Experts hope the special bills can speed up the operation of a permanent nuclear waste disposal system to 2050. They believe Korea has the sufficient technological ability needed for the project once legal grounds are set.

Nuclear waste management is a historical task for our future generations. Politicians must not waste more time over the project and hurry to set the legal grounds for sustainable nuclear energy.