International cooperation activities of KORAD including mid-term and long-term
strategy of international cooperation for radioactive waste management
Ou Jeong Yoo1), Gyeong Hwan Park2)
Korea Radioactive Waste Agency
Chunghyocheong-gil 19, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea

Key words; mid-term and long-term strategy of international cooperation, bilateral cooperation, multilateral
cooperation

Abstract
As radioactive waste management has been a challenging issue in every country using nuclear energy,
international cooperation is an important tool for competency building of each organization responsible forradioactive waste management and related activities. Efforts have been increasingly made in order to find out thesolutions to safe and effective management of radioactive waste by means from information and knowledge
sharing to joint work among the nations.
Under this circumstance, KORAD established the mid-term and long-term strategy of international cooperation,
consistent with the roadmap and plan of radioactive waste management, assuming that international cooperation
activities should have the function of support to the radioactive waste management project. The international
strategy was set as result of the analysis of political, economic, social and technical environment, level ofcompetency of KORAD and overseas implementing organizations, and analysis of SWOT (Strength, Weakness,Opportunity and Threat). Based on the strategy, KORAD has carried out various international cooperation
activities, such as having cooperation meetings, launching joint works, and initiating IAEA projects by sending
the expert and providing extra budgetary contribution to IAEA. Also, the international cooperation strategy isregularly revised to enhance its feasibility by reflecting the changes of internal and external environment
regarding radioactive waste management.
The process and result of the international cooperation strategy-setting will be introduced and its implementation
will be presented in detail at the paper.

1. Introduction
Within KORAD, international cooperation means
the activities planning, carrying out, fostering or
supporting the programs for mutual collaboration
with overseas organizations including information
sharing, staff exchange, joint work, etc.
Under the mission of ‘Contribution to safety of thepeople and protection of the environment by safe andeffective management of radioactive waste’, KORAD
has made a great effort for competence building inorder to be fully able to manage radioactive waste insafe and effective manners. As a part of it,international cooperation is one of the tools weadopted for enhancing the capabilities as well as thehuman resource development program.
From the perspective that international cooperation
gives a great impact on the place of KORAD in theinternational community, we have also paid attention

to cooperation with international organizations suchas IAEA and OECD/NEA.
International cooperation is one of the support
activities helping the primary function of KORAD
which includes planning, and construction andoperation of the radioactive waste management
facilities to achieve the core value of KORAD.
In this regard, as international cooperation
contributes to achieving the vision of KORAD, it isimportant part of our function, covering broad scopeof works from setting up the mid-term and long-term
strategy to implementing the cooperation program.
2. Mid-term and long-term strategy ofinternational cooperation
In order for effective international cooperation
closely linked to the vision and strategy oforganization, we have set up and regularly revised themid-term and long-term strategy of international
cooperation since 2015. Based on the analysis of

6th East Asia Forum on Radwaste Management Conference
November 27-29, 2017, Osaka, Japanexternal and internal environment of organization,
ultimate goal and strategic objectives, and Critical
Success Factors (CSF) of international cooperation
were drawn out. The roadmap and the detailed tasks
of international cooperation could be broken down
thereby.
2.1 Analysis of external environment
The strategy setting process starts with the analysisof external environment, including political,economic, social & technical environment (PEST),and overseas & domestic situation.
Considering the political changes, socialatmosphere, and economic & technical challenges
regarding radioactive waste management, theimplications could be elicited as follows.
- Needs to establish implementation plan on highlevel waste management conforming to thegovernment policy- Needs to enhance the social trust and confidence
in developing technology fulfilling safety
requirements and efficiency of radioactive waste
management- Needs to build the competency of radioactive
waste management in a timely manner,considering the saturation of on-site storage ofspent nuclear fuel and the life span of operating
reactors- Needs to use international network for bilateraland multilateral cooperation for competency
building of radioactive waste management- Needs to be competitive in global market, with
anticipation of expansion of international nuclearindustry- Needs to closely observe the emerging
technologies other than deep geological disposalof high level waste and the current situation on
multinational storage/repository projectAlso, a few bullet points could be suggested asfollows after the review of radioactive waste
management of other countries and the comparison ofdomestic and overseas situation of radioactive wastemanagement.
- Needs to cooperate with other countries having
experience in construction of engineered vault
type disposal facility and very low level waste
disposal facility, closure of the disposal facility
and post-closure management of the disposal
facility- Needs to look into the possibility of sharing
knowledge and experience in construction andoperation of underground silo type facility withother countries, which is one of the strengths of
KORAD- Needs to cooperate with other countries in thearea of high level waste management, as well
- Needs to classify the countries developed inradioactive waste management into a few
groups whose strength is in common

2.2 Analysis of internal environment
Together with the external environment analysis,
the analysis of internal environment, such as
corporate vision and strategy, project plan, andcompetence, is an important factor of the strategy
setting process.
When it comes to international cooperation
strategy of KORAD, internal environment analysis
focused on evaluating the competency level of eacharea of radioactive waste management projects sothat the area demanding international cooperation
could elaborated. Considering the process and thework scope of radioactive waste management ofKORAD, the projects are divided into 4 categories,
low and intermediate level waste disposal, high level
wastemanagement,
decommissioning
waste
management and trust & confidence building. The
result of competency level of each area is shown as
below.
Area

LILW Disposal

HLW
Management

Decommissioning
Waste
Management
Trust &Confidence
Building

Work of Breakdown

Evaluated
level

Site Selection

High

Construction of disposal
facilities

Mediumhigh

Operation of disposal
facilities

MediumClosure and post closure
management of disposal
facilities

Low

Site Selection

Low

Transportation &Interim
storageMediumlow

Disposal

Low

Treatment ofdecommissioning waste

Low

Disposal of decommissioning
waste

Mediumlow

Communication

MediumRisk Management

Low

Based on the result of analysis, the implications are
elicited as follows.
- Urgently needs to secure the competency of highlevel waste management- Needs to be prepared for decommissioning waste
management in the long-term perspectives- Needs to take a proactive approach to closure
and post-closure management of low andintermediate level waste disposal facilities- Needs to develop the communication strategy
and to enhance the competency of riskmanagement
2.3 SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is used as the tool for the‘warm-up’ stage of formulating strategy based on

6th East Asia Forum on Radwaste Management Conference
November 27-29, 2017, Osaka, Japan

the results of external and internal environment
analysis, in general. After defining the Strengths(S) and the Weaknesses (W) of KORAD, andidentifying the Opportunities (O) and the Threats(T) of KORAD, four types of strategies weredeveloped as below.
① OS strategy (use strengths to take advantage ofopportunities)
Promotescooperation
withoverseaorganizations which signed MOU with KORAD,
for competency building- Diversifies the international network- Watches for the opportunity of technology
transfer of LILW disposal to overseas- Develops the plans for entering to the global
market on the basis of close relationship withdomestic organizations② TS strategy (use strengths to avoid threats)- Develops partnershipwith overseasorganizations to enter into the global market- Uses the cooperation with internationalorganizations as the tool for gaining trust andconfidence- Makes the opportunities to share the knowledge
among domestic and overseas experts, andstakeholders③ OW strategy (overcome weaknesses by taking
advantage of opportunities)- Broadens the cooperation with theorganizations of geographically close countries- Participates in multinational cooperation
projects such as EDRAM- Benchmarks international cooperation activities
of overseas organizations④ TW strategy (minimize weaknesses and avoidthreats)- Pays much attention to cooperation in the areasof high level waste management anddecommissioning waste management
2.4 Vision and strategy of international
cooperation of KORAD
Through all the process mentioned above, thevision and strategy of international cooperation wasestablished as below.

In order to make the vision, the ultimate goal ofinternational cooperation, clarified, 3 objectives werespecified. Then, 7 Critical Success Factors (CSFs)

were identified, which are key tasks to achieve theinternational cooperation goal.
3. International cooperation activities carried outby KORAD
International cooperation can be divided into 2parts, bilateral cooperation and multilateralcooperation. Bilateral cooperation is usually focusedon cooperation with overseas implementing
organizations, and the other is on using multinational
platforms such as IAEA and OECD/NEA.
3.1 Bilateral cooperation
As for the bilateral cooperation, KORAD has
signed the cooperation agreements, so called MOU,
with 11 overseas organizations, promisingcooperation in the area of radioactive waste
management since 2009. The organizations which
signed MOU with KORAD are responsible forradioactive waste management in 9 countries, such as
Sweden, France, Japan, Spain, UK, China, Canada,Hungary, and Switzerland. Based on MOU, variouscooperation programs have been implemented frominformation sharing to technical advisory and jointworks.
In respect of low and intermediate level waste
management, design, construction and operation ofnear-surface disposal facilities have been main topicsof the cooperation with overseas organizations, which
already experienced therein, because KORAD has
focused on development of the Wolsong Low andIntermediate Level Waste Disposal Center (WLDC)
since 2009. The activities most actively done werecooperation meetings with each organization for
information sharing on such topics. Furthermore,
KORAD sent staff to Nagra to participate in the fullscale experiment on Gas Permeable Seal Test, and toAndra and SKB for training programs to learn theirexperience in construction and operation of thedisposal facilities, when being in the initial stage of
WLDC. Recently, the joint work on safetyassessment has been carried out with Andra since2012 in order to verify the safety of the rock cavern
type disposal facility and the engineered vault typedisposal facility of KORAD.
Meanwhile, international cooperation in the area ofhigh level waste management had been mostly madeon information sharing before the national policy wasestablished. Information on various situations ofdifferent countries, including national policy,technology development, site selection process,construction and operation of management facilities,
stakeholder engagement and other issues, was usefulto establish the national policy on high level waste
management in Korea, by comparing, analyzing andbenchmarking case of each country. Training
program was developed and executed with Andra sothat staff of KORAD could learn hands-on

6th East Asia Forum on Radwaste Management ConferenceNovember 27-29, 2017, Osaka, Japanexperience in high level waste management ofFrance.
According to the mid-term and long-term strategyof R&D on radioactive waste management ofKORAD, efforts have been made to develop thedual-purpose cask for transportation and interim
storage of spent nuclear fuel. In order to evaluate thesafety of the cask under development, KORAD isparticipating in the joint test of spent nuclear fueltransportation with USA and Spain at the moment.
In addition, it was agreed to make the regularcooperation meeting between KORAD-JAEA,
KORAD-NUMO, and KORAD-RWMC respectively
in 2016, based on the idea to take advantage ofgeographic proximity which could make cooperation
more effective.
3.2 Multilateral cooperation
In terms of multilateral cooperation, KORAD has
largely adopted 2 ways, participating in international
cooperation platform such as IAEA, OECD/NEA,
and other types of multinational cooperation form,and organizing the international symposium by itself.
Since 2009, KORAD has participated in activities
of IAEA including DISPONET, URF and othertechnical meetings regarding radioactive waste
management, as well as those of OECD/NEA such as
RWMC and its sub-ordinated working parties. In
2015, the practical arrangement between IAEA andKORAD was made, resulting in launching the IAEA
projects on high level waste management funded by
KORAD. Three projects have been in progress under
the initiative of IAEA and KORAD, of which themes
are management of site investigation for radioactive
waste management facilities, roadmap for developing
geological disposal facility and compendium ofresults of research, development and demonstration
activities carried out at underground research forgeological disposal, since 2016.
Also, the cooperation agreement was madebetween OECD/NEA and KORAD in 2016,
expecting the more close cooperation on radioactive
waste management issues with NEA and its member
states in the future.
There is the other platform KORAD has actively
participated, which is East Asia Forum onRadioactive Waste Management, so called EAFROM,
founded in 2006 for motivating the cooperation
among the countries in East Asia.
On the other hand, KORAD has hosted theinternational symposium on radioactive waste
management by inviting the experts of overseas anddomestic organizations and stakeholders. The
purpose of the symposium is to enhance the trust andconfidence in radioactive waste management bymaking the opportunities for the public andstakeholders to listen to and share various experts’
experience and insightful opinions. From thesymposium, KORAD could also learn lessons fromoverseas experiences and get to know what thestakeholders think of radioactive waste management
issues. Considering the international symposium has
been held for 4 years consecutively since 2014, it isgetting internationally recognized event to sharediverse experience and opinions regarding
radioactive waste management.
4. Future plan
Current regime, inaugurated in May this year,
announced the new energy policy, reducing thenuclear energy and expanding the renewable energy
in the long-term perspectives. Accordingly, thecorporate strategy of KORAD was revised recently
and revision of the international cooperation strategy
has been in progress at the moment. After the reviewof the performance of each activities linked to theCSFs of international cooperation strategy, it would
be also required to come up with the new approachfor what needs to be amended. When theimplementation plan on high level waste management
is established, detailed project milestone will comeout, meaning that international cooperation strategyof KORAD will be revised again. It would be also
considered that areas of international cooperation
should be differentiated depending on the level of itscompetency.
As the decommissioning of reactor will start in2020’s, demand on cooperation in the area ofdecommissioning waste management is growing
within KORAD. And it is expected that the demandon cooperation in the area of high level wastemanagement will be increasing as well in the nearfuture. Therefore, the international cooperation
programs need to be more diversified and focusedmore on competency building to be fully prepared for
future project of KORAD.
Lastly, cross-cutting issues such as the co-relation
between the 4th industrial revolution and radioactive
waste management could be themed in theinternational symposium of KORAD, expecting thatproviding all kinds of stakeholders in radioactive
waste management with opportunities to think about
how radioactive waste management could be adapted
into environment constantly changing.
5. Conclusion
International cooperation strategy was made basedon analysis of external environment of nuclear
industry and radioactive waste management area, andinternal environment of KORAD, such ascompetence of radioactive waste management. Thestrategy has been applied to cooperation activities
with overseas organizations in forms of bilateral andmultilateral cooperation, and will be revised
conforming to the political changes and internaldemands.

6th East Asia Forum on Radwaste Management Conference
November 27-29, 2017, Osaka, Japan

Various international cooperation programs havebeen one of tools not only for competency building ofKORAD, also for trust and confidence building.
More strategic and sophisticated international
programs would be developed because international
cooperation is a critical factor to achieve thecorporate goal in timely manner.

6th East Asia Forum on Radwaste Management Conference
November 27-29, 2017, Osaka, Japan