Roundup: Door opens for S. Korea to reprocess spent fuel in accord with U.S.

South Korea and the United States on Wednesday revised the 42-year-old civil nuclear energy cooperation pact, opening a door for Seoul to reprocess spent nuclear fuel sometime in the future.

The two countries initialed the revised accord on the bilateral civil nuclear cooperation after four and a half years of negotiations, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

Seoul and Washington launched negotiations in October 2010 to update the agreement, which entered into force in 1974. It was originally terminated in March 2014, but the deadline was extended by two years amid differences over the reprocessing of the spent fuel.

South Korea, which generates about one quarter of its electricity with nuclear reactors and exports nuclear power plant equipment and parts, has desired to develop reprocessing, or at least pyro-processing, capabilities.

The United States has been worried that permitting South Korea to enrich uranium and reprocess spent fuel could make it difficult to deter other countries from seeking such technologies.

Washington has discouraged the spread of enrichment and reprocessing activities as such activity can be used to produce weapons-usable nuclear materials.

OPENING DOOR FOR PYRO-PROCESSING

Under the revision, South Korea would be allowed to continue pyro-processing research without consent from the U.S. The pyro- processing is seen as having less of proliferation risk as it cannot extract weapons-grade plutonium when reprocessing spent fuel.

Research activities were made possible in nuclear facilities, including post-irradiation examination, which identifies traits of spent nuclear fuel, as well as electro-reduction, or the first stage of the pyro-processing.

It means that South Korea could be allowed to pyro-process if technical, nonproliferation and security conditions are met. Seoul and Washington has been conducting a ten-year fuel-cycle study.

The pyro-processed fuel could be used in sodium-cooled fast reactor, which South Korea is developing as a future generation of reactor. It would substantially reduce nuclear waste in the country where storage facilities are rapidly decreasing.

It was also made possible for South Korea to send its spent fuel to a third country in Europe such as Britain and France for reprocessing. But, whether the reprocessed fuel could be returned to South Korea is not known.

LOW ENRICHMENT

To secure stable supply of nuclear fuel, South Korea will be allowed to slightly enrich uranium under the updated nuclear cooperation accord with the U.S. Less than 20 percent of enrichment will be possible if the two countries agree to it through consultations at the standing committee for nuclear energy cooperation, co-chaired by U.S. deputy secretary of energy and South Korean vice foreign minister.

The consultative body will hold a regular meeting every year, having four subcommittees under its wing for spent fuel management, supply of nuclear fuel, enhanced nuclear export and nuclear security.

To boost nuclear exports, South Korea will be allowed to reprocess nuclear power equipment and parts, imported from the United States, to other countries without U.S. consent.

The South Korean foreign ministry said the new accord achieved three goals of President Park Geun-hye, including the easing of spent fuel storage problem, reliable access to enriched uranium and enhanced nuclear power exports. Endi