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How to Design a Performance Assessment Methodology for a Double-layered Spent Nuclear Fuel Disposal System
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Since the first operation of the Gori No. 1 nuclear power plant in Korea was started to operate in 1978, currently 24 nuclear power plants have been being operated, out of which 21 plants are PWR types and the rest are CANDU types. About 30% of total electricity consumed in Korea is from all these nuclear power plants. The accumulated spent nuclear fuels (SNFs) generated from each site are temporarily being stored as wet or dry storage type at each plant site. These SNFs with their high radiotoxicity, heat generating, and long-lived radioactivity are currently the only type of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in Korea, which urgently requires to be disposed of in deep geological repository. Studies on disposal of HLW in various kind of geological repositories have been carried out in such countries as Sweden, Finland, United States, and etc. with their own management policies in consideration of their situations. In Korea long-term R&D research program for safe management of SNF has also been conducted during last couple of decades since around 1997, during which several various type of disposal concepts for disposal of SNFs in deep geological formations have been investigated and developed. The first concept developed was KAERI Reference Disposal System (KRS) which is actually very much similar to Swedish KBS-3, a famous concept of direct disposal of SNF in stable crystalline rock at a depth of around 500 m which has been regarded as one of the most plausible method worldwide to direct disposal of SNF. The world first Finnish repository will be also this type. Since the characteristics of SNF discharged from domestic nuclear reactors have been changed and improved, and burnup has sometimes increased, a more advanced deep geological repository system has been needed, KRS-HB (KRS with High Burnup SNF) has been developed and in consideration of the dimensions of SNFs and the cooling period at the time point of the disposal time, KRS+, a rather improved disposal concept has also been subsequently developed which is especially focused on the efficient disposal area. Recently research has concentrated on rather advanced disposal technology focused on a safer and more economical repository system in recent view of the rapidly growing amount of accumulated SNF. Especially in Korea the rock mass and the footprint area for the repository extremely limited for disposal site. Some preliminary studies to achieve rather higher efficiency repository concept for disposal of SNF recently have already been emphasized. Among many possible ones for consideration of design for high-efficiency repository system, a double-layered system has been focused which is expected to maximize disposal capacity within the minimum footprint disposal area. Based on such disposal strategy a rather newly designed performance assessment methodology might be required to show long-term safety of the repository. Through the study some prerequisites for such methodological development will be roughly checked and investigated, which covers FEP identification and pathway and scenario analyses as well as preliminary conceptual modeling for the nuclide release and transport in near-field, far-field, and even biosphere in and around the conceptual repository system.
