1 Overview of the Korean Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Recovered Uranium Fuel Program in Korea

Abstract. Since Kori Uint 1 started to generate electricity on April 29, 1978, the nuclear share of the total electricity generation rate has continued to rise to the current value of 40.3 % as of the end of 2006 in Korea. The average availability of the Korean NPPs for the last 8 years ranges around 90% and ranked highly in the world for the past 3 years. However due to the delicate situation that Korean Penninsula faces, the nuclear fuel cycle program has neither been that much ambitious nor successful for the past few decades. As closed fuel cycles using a wet process has not been possible, alternative proliferation-resistant nuclear fuel technology such as DUPIC has been developed and a series of irradiation tests are being carried out at the HANARO reactor. As Korea has not only PWRs as a major vehicle but also CANDUs as minor vehicle, a symbiotic fuel cycle linking PWRs and CANDUs is quite attractive as an supplementary option besides the PWR-SFR linkage concept via a pyroprocess. Another viable symbiotic option is the use of recovered uranium (RU), in CANDUs. Current direct disposal of PWR spent fuel option is expectd to result in a steep rise of the spent fuel accumulation reaching 70,000 ton by 2100, but with the fuel recyle based on SFRs, it is expected to reduce to 4,000 ton. In the case of the RU program, the fissile of 0.9 to 1.0 % makes it possible for a reuse in CANDU without a re-enrichment. Using RU fuel would produce a significant increase in th