Study on the Safeguards Approach to Pyroprocessing Technology

In the nuclear non-proliferation regime, IAEA safeguards system works to control the nuclear material and to prevent transferring the sensitive technology. We, Republic of Korea, under the comprehensive safeguards agreement and additional protocol, are required to send accountancy report as well as information research and development activities related to the nuclear fuel cycle. Except for small quantity nuclear materials used for research and other commercial use, most of domestic nuclear materials are imported raw materials for fuel and spent fuel. For the nuclear materials, procedures and methods of accounting and control are well established and implemented. According to the environmental change, reprocessing technology is studied as one of options to reduce high level waste in Korea. Since it can change the type of nuclear materials required safeguards, KINAC, as a control agency, is required to establish the foundation of safeguards technology for the reprocessing facilities considering the characteristics of the system. In this paper, we will discuss about the environment and current status of the reprocessing technology and safeguards