Koreas reach nuclear deal: major implications for Canada’s role in GNEP
South Korea has achieved a stunning breakthrough in nuclear negotiations with the North. This agreement, assuming it holds, may free the South to commercialize technologies that recycle spent nuclear fuel. Prominent among these is DUPIC, which uses CANDU reactors to burn spent fuel from light water reactors. DUPIC is a joint effort between Atomic Energy Canada Limited and the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute.
A deal with the North has been a prerequisite for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to accept South Korea’s use of DUPIC under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). If the deal holds, South Korea will become DUPIC’s proving ground: though the South has four CANDUs, its nuclear fleet is dominated by light water.
Successful DUPIC demonstrations in South Korea would hugely increase CANDU’s attractiveness around the world. Rather than competing with light water technology in the once-through-fuel-cycle world—and constantly coming out on the losing end—CANDU with DUPIC could play an integral role in the worldwide nuclear renaissance.
But the deal with the North has to hold.
South Korea has achieved a stunning breakthrough in nuclear negotiations with the North. This agreement, assuming it holds, may free the South to commercialize technologies that recycle spent nuclear fuel. Prominent among these is DUPIC, which uses CANDU reactors to burn spent fuel from light water reactors. DUPIC is a joint effort between Atomic Energy Canada Limited and the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute.
A deal with the North has been a prerequisite for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to accept South Korea’s use of DUPIC under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). If the deal holds, South Korea will become DUPIC’s proving ground: though the South has four CANDUs, its nuclear fleet is dominated by light water.
Successful DUPIC demonstrations in South Korea would hugely increase CANDU’s attractiveness around the world. Rather than competing with light water technology in the once-through-fuel-cycle world—and constantly coming out on the losing end—CANDU with DUPIC could play an integral role in the worldwide nuclear renaissance.
But the deal with the North has to hold.
posted by Steve Aplin at 1:44 PM
2 Comments:
Interesting!
However, excpet Korea and China, there is no country has CANDU and PWR at the same time. Even, Canada doesn't have PWR at all.
How can you get the spent fuel of PWR in Canada and other countries?
Moreover, Canada doesn't join GNEP until now, so you can't import spent fuel from US. And if possible, it makes a lot of serious issue.
What do you think about it?
Thanks yoonha, good points. Yes, there are major political issues inherent in using U.S. PWR spent fuel in Ontario. But I'm thinking more long term. CANDUs would look good in amongst the U.S. light water fleet. I guess it's a race to see what's more viable: plutonium fast burners (as envisioned under GNEP) or DUPIC.
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