The Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. performed the opening ceremony of a Public Information Pavilion on 3 December 2004, which is located at the Uljin NPP site. The building consists of an exhibition hall, auditorium, cyber observatory and administrative offices. It is anticipated that the exhibition hall will play the role as a place for education by providing local culture, nuclear energy related knowledge, etc.
300 Million USD set for Nuclear Waste Site at the Early Stages
of the Initial Construction
The government will provide 300 billion won (around 300million USD) in financial support to a local government, who wishes to allocate an area for a nuclear waste dump site, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) on 25 January 2005. The plan is part of a special bill to establish a site for low- and mid-level nuclear waste. The funds will be presented at the early stages of the initial construction and the local government is free to use the funds for regional development and the benefit of its citizens.
The government intends to establish a committee to take charge of the support plans for the region which will include local residents. When the National Assembly approves the bill in February as expected, the government is anticipating multiple candidates to present themselves as locations for the nuclear waste site.
Despite the urgent need to establish a nuclear waste site, the government failed to find a candidate due to strong opposition from local residents last year. In December 2004, the MOCIE presented another construction plan to make the previous one seem more attractive: the construction of a low- and mid-level radioactive waste site by 2008 and the construction of a high-level radioactive waste site for spent fuel storage later.
Before this, it was the goversnment's intention to build a nuclear waste facility to store high-risk spent fuel along with low- and mid-level radioactive waste. The completion of a nuclear waste site is one of the major items on the national agenda as the storage capacity for low- and mid-level radioactive waste is expected to run out by around 2008.
|
