Insight from a Critical Review on the Safety Analysis of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facility for Domestic Regulatory System

Korea has 20 nuclear power plants in operation, and 10,761 ton of spent fuel deposited in plant sites. The capacity of reservoir for spent fuel in plant sites is to begin to be full in 2016. The light water reactors of 16 units generate around 320 ton/year and the heavy water reactors of 4 units around 380 ton/year in Korea. And the electricity generated by nuclear power plants is planned to increase up to 59% share by 2030. Spent fuel classified as high level radioactive waste in law is characterized by high level radiation, high heat generation, and high radiological toxicity. In the contrary, it is also a very useful domestic energy source. Thus, the safe management of spent fuel is very important confronting job in nuclear industry. Advanced fuel cycle (AFC) using pyro-process is an innovative technology, by which environmental load is drastically relieved because the extracted long-lived fission products are burn in fast breeder reactors. Domestic nuclear industry also has a perspective road map for the construction of AFC facilities. However, there is not a sufficiently detailed licensing regulatory system yet. Moreover, there is no systematic frame for the safety evaluation. This paper reviews the safety analysis system of foreign fuel cycle facilities. Critical review leads to the insight for setting-up safety analysis system of domestic AFC facilities