Motie: Minister attends radioactive waste disposal facilities groundbreaking ceremony

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang attended the groundbreaking ceremony of second stage near-surface disposal facilities for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste on August 26 to encourage safe construction management, and visited the Wolsong nuclear reactor and dry storage facility.

The second stage near-surface disposal facilities are the nation’s first low-level radioactive waste disposal infrastructure, with the capacity to handle 1,250,000 drums of waste.

Construction permit for the above second stage facilities was granted by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) in July this year after reinforcing the anti-seismic capacity which enables the withstanding of magnitude-7 earthquakes. The project amounts to KRW 262.1 billion, with completion slated for 2024.

Minister Lee remarked that the second stage near-surface disposal system for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste will be built with utmost priority on citizens’ safety. Moreover, he added that as much as the present generation has benefited from the development of nuclear energy, it is equally their duty to tackle the issues regarding high-level radioactive waste and its disposal facilities.

Accordingly, the Minister relayed plans to legislate special laws on management of high-level radioactive waste and to establish an R&D technology roadmap.

Lauding the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP)’s recent win of a three-trillion won nuclear power plant bid in El Dabaa, Egypt, Minister Lee called it the first tangible outcome of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s strong push for nuclear exports, officially signaling the end of the “nuclear phase-out” policy era.

The El Dabaa nuclear plant project is expected to boost the related equipment, materials and construction sectors with bountiful job openings and breathe fresh revival into the nuclear reactor ecosystem as well.

Minister Lee further emphasized that “the Ministry will fully support nuclear exports with the public-private joint Nuclear Energy Exports Strategy Committee as the central engine for high-level diplomacy and international collaboration projects (EVs, batteries, hydrogen mobility, airport and other infrastructure, 5G, cultural centers).”