South Korea has been developing pyroprocessing technology that recovers valuableresources such as uranium from the spent fuels of nuclear power plants. Unlike reprocessingtechnology, which enables the separation of plutonium, pyroprocessing recovers neptunium,americium, curium and plutonium together in a batch-mode operation. These aspects makepyroprocessing a promising non-proliferation nuclear fuel cycle, but also introduce somechallenges in terms of safeguards. Incorporating the Safeguards-by-Design concept early inthe conceptual design phase of the nuclear facility is important for establishing an effectiveand efficient safeguards implementation. This may also reveal synergy components topotentially reduce safety and/or security risks, as well as improve the major plant designcharacteristics including the operational efficiency and minimize the life cycle cost. In thiscontext, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has been developing safeguardstechnologies, to overcome safeguards challenges and enhance the proliferation resistanceaspects of advanced nuclear fuel cycles, in collaboration with the International AtomicEnergy Agency and the United States. Advanced safeguards systems, including nuclearmaterial-accounting technologies and new safeguards approaches for pyroprocessing, havebeen under development at KAERI. This paper addresses the main features of the safeguardsdevelopment status and future prospects of the pyroprocessing facilities. It is expected thatthe deployment of these advanced safeguards technologies well be useful for apyroprocessing facility. This paper first reviews previous R&D conducted on the safeguardsfor pyroprocessing, and then describes recent activities including future plans in domestic aswell as collaborative work with the IAEA and the US.
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