THE EXPERIENCE OF SPENT FUEL TRANSPORTATION IN KOREA

In 1991 and 1995, more than 310 spent fuel assemblies had been transported from Kori nuclear power plant #1, in which plant the storage capacity of spent fuel approached its limit, to nearby Kori nuclear power plant #3 and #4. Consequently Kori nuclear power plant #1 could have secured the storage capacity of spent fuel for 8 years operation. This transportation project had been carried out for the first time in Korea. The transportation system includes KSC-4 transportation casks, auxiliary equipment and vehicles which had been developed locally. Also considerable amount of modification to the existing plant equipment and facilities had been performed. KSC-4 transportation cask was Type B(M), and had been developed by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and licensed in accordance with Korean law and IAEA regulation. It had been designed and manufactured to store 4 PWR fuel assemblies each with max. burnup of 38,000 MWD/MTU and enrichment of 3.2 w/o, and its empty weight was 37 metric tons.