Progress in Pyroprocessing Technology at KAERI

There were 23 nuclear power plants in the Republic of Korea in 2012. The spent nuclear fuel management from nuclear power plants is an issue for sustaining nuclear power. Pyroprocessing is one of the options with which to manage the spent nuclear fuel, which has obvious benefits over the other alternatives. Individual units of pyroprocessing have been studied for decades to facilitate innovative technologies and related optimization studies. The research activity for integrating the unit processes was required for the verification of overall unit process performance and this led to the PRIDE facility construction. The purposes of the PRIDE facility is to facilitate integration of tests of unit processes, application of safeguards concept, optimization of processes, and provision of scale-up information and a training pyroprocess facility. (author)