Assessment of spent nuclear fuel amounts to be managed based on disposal option in Republic of Korea

The Republic of Korea (ROK) was operating 24 nuclear power plants (NPPs) at the end of 2015 and nearly 30% of electricity was supplied by the fleet of NPPs. Currently, spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from the NPPs is stored in pools attached to each NPP. However, the pools have been gradually filling up and would be saturated within decades. Recently, The Public Engagement Commission on Spent Nuclear Fuel Management (PECOS) submitted its final report to government proposing direct disposal of SNF from the early 2050s. It also suggested construction of an interim storage facility at the same site. In this work, the amount of SNF was quantified based on various nuclear scenarios. National electricity plans address the installed capacity of nuclear to 2035. To extend the period of the scenarios up to 2100, the results of open research were adopted and nine sub-scenarios were derived, considering the prospect for electricity demand (highest, reference and lowest) as well as the lifetime extension of NPPs. The total amount of SNF was estimated at between 60 and 102 ktHM at 2100. The required at-reactor (AR) storage capacity was evaluated within a range of 10-12 ktHM and an away-from-reactor (AFR) facility would store 14-17 ktHM depending on the scenarios.