The economic effects of the deferred disposal of spent fuel in Korea

The present study analyzes the economic effects concerning deferred disposal of spent fuel through long-term storage. According to the cost analysis, a scenario that a 90-year deferral of an HLW (High-Level Waste) repository construction in favor of a long-term storage of spent fuel would be economically preferable to another scenario based on the year 2040 chosen as the starting point for construction on a repository. That is, the former scenario would cost about 1/2 of the latter. This finding is an estimated result from an economic perspective only, assuming the disposal of 20,000-ton PWR spent fuel and 16,000-ton CANDU spent fuel. Still, it seems necessary to elicit proper term of storage for radioactive waste in order to comply with the so-called Polluter-Pays principle that the current generation cannot pass on its radioactive waste to the next generation.

► Economic effects of deferred construction of HLW repository for spent fuel are estimated. ► Three scenarios are set based on three starting points in time (2041, 2102 and 2201) for repository construction. ► A 90-year deferral of repository construction would reduce the total cost by 1/2 or so. ► The optimal starting point of an HLW repository construction was derived. ► How to derive the appropriate discount rates applied as the input parameters is presented.