Regulatory Activities on Aging and Continued Operation for NPPs

As the first nuclear power in Korea, Kori unit 1, approaches its design life, and the operation beyond design life has become one of the important issues. To make sure that the appropriate safety level be maintained in old nuclear power plants, the periodic safety review has already been in place since 2000. The legal framework of continued operation was, therefore, developed based upon the rule of periodic safety review, additionally taking into account an aging management program, operating experiences, and recent safety research results. As a result, the rule of continued operation in Korea has an outlook of periodic safety review with internal technical standards similar to license renewal. This paper will provide the rationale and safety review process, including site inspection, for continued operation in Korea. Also, results of the safety review on the continued operation of Kori unit 1 will be provided