123 Not as Easy as ABC for Congress April 03, 2013 As the unofficial deadline for reaching an agreement in the 123 negotiations between the US and South Korea reaches closer, tensions and instability on the Korean Peninsula and the surrounding region have complicated the 123 process from the perspective of the US Congress. Pyongyang’s

Global Nuclear Reactor Exports: South Korea’s Vision and Strategy March 14, 2013 Following its landmark deal with the UAE, South Korea’s nuclear industry has been seeking to expand both domestically and globally. Nuclear power will remain a critical piece of South Korea’s energy mix during the next few decades, and many countries in regions such

National Sovereignty and Nuclear Strategy—Renaissance, Rollback, or Restructuring? February 07, 2013 The future growth and development of nuclear power will likely be dependent upon international public-private partnerships—while industry cannot take the lead in this sector, national governments in some regions are becoming incapable of financing nuclear projects by themselves. The current period in which nation

FAS-GABI-KEIA Breakfast Briefing: Gold Standard Versus Case-by-case: The US-ROK 123 Agreement January 29, 2013 Former State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley coined the term “gold standard” in August 2010 in discussing the US-UAE 123 agreement. Since that time, the gold standard has come to refer to state commitments to renounce enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) within national

Issues and Challenges of Nuclear Plant Life Extensions: Case of Korea’s Kori 1 January 17, 2013 Sustained operation of nuclear power plants eventually results in the wearing and aging of plant components, mainly from metal corrosion, fatigue, fatigue crack growth, and fracture toughness degradation through neutron irradiation. Of particular concern in this matter is the

Potential Effects of a Lapse in the US-Korea 123 Agreement December 13, 2012 The current US-ROK 123 Agreement for Cooperation on Civil Uses of Atomic Energy entered into force in 1973, and after having been active for nearly forty years, is set to expire in March 2014. To avoid a lapse, it is believed that

Nuclear Fuel Supply—Process, Status, and Outlook November 07, 2012 While the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle has been the focus of considerable political attention and controversy, the front-end also presents its own unique challenges and complex issues. Fuel production for commercial nuclear plants consists of four basic steps: uranium mining for yellowcake, conversion of

New Thinking on Nuclear Governance: US and ROK Future Directions October 11, 2012 The current deadlock between the US and South Korea over renegotiation of their 123 Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement lies in the thorny subject of enrichment and reprocessing (E&R)—while it is US policy to discourage transfer of E&R technologies to countries without established

Waste Confidence: What Next for the US? September 12, 2012 In response to a 1977 NRDC lawsuit challenging the basis of licensing reactors, the NRC issued the original Waste Confidence Rule in 1984, essentially expressing assurance that safe disposal of spent fuel in a geologic repository was technically feasible and that repository space would eventually