A number of professionals and academics are at odds with the Korean government, claiming the government's plan to build an underground nuclear-waste research lab isn't as safe as it needs to be.
What's happening?
The Korean government chose a site in Taebaek City to build an underground research laboratory (URL), designed to create and test technologies for storing radioactive waste beneath the Earth's surface.
But, as reported by the Chosun Daily, a special committee of the Korean Nuclear Society decided in a recent meeting that the site's location does not have the proper geological makeup to house such a facility.
"The URL must be built on homogeneous bedrock from the surface to 500 meters underground, but the Taebaek site is unsuitable due to a mix of granite, mudstone, and sandstone," the committee said.
Taebaek was the only city to apply for this URL site, and was chosen by the government last December. Korea's Radioactive Waste Agency said the geological makeup of the lab isn't as important as the makeup of its disposal tunnel, as that is where simulated nuclear waste will be placed.
The disposal tunnel's location consists of a single base rock, the government said.
The proposed lab would sit more than 1,600 feet underground and would feature a test space that resembles a nuclear waste disposal site. It would allow researchers to rehearse various waste-disposal scenarios.
Why is this important?
This debate highlights the complex issues that surround nuclear energy.
On one hand, nuclear can provide large amounts of low-carbon energy, meaning it doesn't spew out the type of harmful, heat-trapping pollution of dirty energy sources like coal and gas. Nuclear reactors also take up considerably less space than wind farms or solar farms.
On the other hand, nuclear waste remains radioactive for thousands of years, meaning it requires safe storage or disposal. And nuclear accidents, such as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, can prove fatal with long-lasting health and environmental impacts.
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I'd be excited 😀 What's being done about the URL?
Korean nuclear waste has temporarily been stored at nuclear power plants, but they will soon run out of storage, so the country plans to build a permanent waste repository. That, however, isn't scheduled to be finished until 2060.
The government says this URL is necessary to prepare for the permanent facility's opening. If all goes to plan, construction is scheduled to begin next year, and the lab is expected to be completed in 2032, at a cost of roughly $350 million.
But the Korean Nuclear Society and other academics across the country have asked for Korea to halt those plans.
"If scientific standards are shaken, public trust will collapse," professor Yoon John-il told the Chosun Daily. "If necessary, we will raise additional issues."
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