Residents Support Construction of Spent Fuel Facilities
The South Korean government’s committee in charge of spent nuclear fuel management policy review conducted a survey on July 24 as to the necessity of additional modular air cooled storages (MACSTORs) in the Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant. In that survey, 81.4 percent of the respondents answered in favor of the additional construction whereas the ratio of objectors stood at 11 percent.
The locals in favor of the additional construction increased in ratio by more than 20 percentage points to 80 percent in the second survey and to 81.4 percent in the third one on July 24. Experts gave briefings on the matter and the matter was repeatedly discussed for three weeks between the first and third surveys.
This means that a shutdown of the power plant attributable to its shortage of spent nuclear fuel storage facilities can be postponed. The majority of the locals approved of the additional construction whereas civic and environmental groups are continuing to object. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is planning to make its decision based on the survey results. New MACSTORs are likely to be built and Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant Units 2 to 4 are likely to remain in operation in that the decision is supposed to be made based on the local residents’ opinions. The saturation rate of the plant reached 95.36 percent in March this year and is estimated to reach 100 percent in March 2022. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, which operates the plant, has said that the construction needs to start in August this year at the latest as it takes about 19 months.
Still, spent nuclear fuel treatment in other nuclear power plants has yet to be dealt with. Hanul, Kori and Hanbit are scheduled to saturate in 2030, 2031 and 2029, respectively. However, discussions on the matter have shown little progress and shutdowns may become imminent there as in the case of Wolseong.
According to those in the industry, the government needs to come up with a plan for final spent nuclear fuel treatment in a hurry. In 2016, the previous Park Geun-hye administration announced that it would select permanent disposal sites outside nuclear power plants by 2028 and complete facilities to that end by 2052. The current government, however, nullified the plan in 2017 and launched the committee to review the matter from scratch. The committee, however, has failed to suggest any direction for three years.