South Korea plans to select a site for permanent storage of its high level radioactive waste by 2028, and will also consider storing spent nuclear fuel overseas, the government said on Monday. In the meantime it plans to expand temporary storage facilities at the country’s 25 nuclear plants, with some existing sites likely to start to fill up from 2019. South Korea is the world’s fifth-biggest user of nuclear power, which accounts about a third of the country’s electricity, but it has yet to find a permanent solution for its spent nuclear fuel. A government advisory body said last year the government should build a temporary facility to store spent fuel from 2030 and consider permanent storage deep underground from 2050. Seoul will select a site over the next 12 years for a permanent disposal facility that would include an underground research laboratory that would conduct safety checks, the country’s energy ministry said in a statement on Monday. The facility was likely to start operations from 2053, an energy ministry official told Reuters.
Reuters 25th July 2016 read more »