Strategies for building Nuclear Forensic Capability in the Republic of Korea

Across the four Nuclear Security Summits (NSS), nuclear forensics has gained increased worldwide attention in recent years. It was highlighted in the Work Plan of 2010 Washington NSS, in the 2012 Seoul and 2014 Hague Communiqués, and in the IAEA Action Plan of 2016 Washington NSS as the national measures for reducing and preventing the threat of nuclear terrorism. In particular, the fourth and most recent NSS in Washington, D.C., Fact Sheets of nuclear forensics were solely presented by the United States as "House Gifts." Accordingly, Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control (KINAC) as a technical support organisation for nuclear nonproliferation and security in the Republic of Korea, initiated a national R&D project in 2013, funded by an independent nuclear regulatory authority, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC). This paper insightfully reviews the progress of ongoing work for building nuclear forensic capability in the Republic of Korea. The final goal of the project is to build a foundation for the national nuclear forensic support system and the project has two principal objectives: 1) to provide a technical basis for developing the national nuclear forensics library (NNFL) which enables comparative analysis with nuclear forensic signatures data based on the relevant database and 2) to build other core capabilities for implementing nuclear forensics in accordance with guidelines proposed by international forums such as ITWG, GICNT and IAEA. To develop the NNFL, the material control and accountability (MC&A) system and existing data produced in the facilities such as the history of spent fuel assemblies and quality assurance (QA) data of fresh fuel, are reviewed in the nuclear security perspectives to provide an efficient way for collecting the basic information relevant to nuclear forensics. Further, additional features of nuclear fuels produced or manufactured in the Republic of Korea are investigated to find signatures of Republic of Korea origins. As regards the objective of building other core capabilities in implementing nuclear forensics, the production of a draft bill, development of an emergency response manual including training and exercise programs required for securing evidence, and review of the international obligation exchange under bilateral nuclear cooperation agreements are comprehensively dealt with in the context of a nuclear security event. The achievements and future plans in each subject matter are briefly summarised, and the lessons learned from the project to date are presented in concluding remarks. (author)