Seoul, Republic of Korea

It is for me a great pleasure to be present with you at this reception of the 10th Korean Atomic Industrial Forum and Korean Nuclear Society Annual Conference. Unfortunately, it was not possible for me to arrive in time for the opening session of the Conference. But I am sure it must have been very interesting to lern about the important subjects of the Conference.

Many sessions deal with topics which are of prime relevance, not only to the Republic of Korea but also to other countries around the world. I am tempted to make some brief remarks on these issues, because the IAEA's programme contains several projects relating to Nuclear Power, Advanced Reactor Development and Safety carried out by the Department of Nuclear Energy and Safety.

There are 432 nuclear power plants in operation and 51 under construction worldwide in 32 countries as of the end of 1994. Even though nuclear power has a rather short history, it has accumulated some 7200 reactor years of operating experience and supplies about 17% of the world s electricity. In current environmental terms, this has resulted in avoiding the release of more than 2000 million tons of carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere, which would have occurred in 1994, had that electricity been produced in coal fired plants.

The nuclear power programme of the Republic of Korea is a success story and I would like to congratulate you on all of the achievements: ten nuclear power plants in operation, six under construction and eleven other units to be commissioned by the year 2006. Your programme is an impressive example to other developing countries.

Electricity supply strategies apart from seeking low costs give increasing attention to minimizing the impacts of power generation on human health and the environment.

The most obvious environmental advantage of nuclear power is its limited quantity of waste and the absence of SO2, NOx and CO2 emissions. If the electric energy generated from nuclear power each year in the world were produced instead by coal-fired plants, there would be additional annual emissions of CO2 of about 1600 million tonnes. This figure is significant compared with the 4000 million tonnes which the Toronto Conference on the Changing Atmosphere recommended as a target for reductions in annual emissions by 2005.

It is sometimes alleged that we don t know how to handle radioactive waste. This is misleading. The technology for nuclear waste management has been developed and in many cases it is already in use. However, the identification and acceptance of sites, especially for long- term high level waste disposal are questions of growing urgency. Waste created by the nuclear power industry can and must be well managed or it will become a limiting factor to further deployment of nuclear power. Examples of practices successfully adopted in some countries indicate solutions which could serve for all. The safe management of waste requires appropriate political decisions concerning the location of disposal sites and problems of a legal, administrative and technical nature. Every country using nuclear power must have a strategy to ensure permanent isolation from the environment of all wastes. It must include effective long-term funding.

Advanced nuclear power systems are currently under development in several countries with a range of objectives, including improved economics and reliability and enhanced safety. Most of the new concepts are evolutionary, but some incorporate varying degrees of innovation. Increased emphasis on passive protection, natural convective cooling, improved inherent safety and stability in the event of severe accidents, modularization, filtered double containment, increased automation and digitization of control systems, and improved control room design are some examples of new design approaches.

I understand that ROK established special long-term nuclear R&D funds a few years ago and has already started to design its own advanced nuclear power reactor aiming to operate around 2007. The high risk and cost of developing advanced reactors, especially those based on innovative concepts, make international co-operation desirable. A pooling of resources and expertise can be organized in areas of common interest.

Much of the IAEA activities concerning the development of water- cooled, liquid-metal-cooled and gas-cooled reactors takes place in three International Working Groups (IWGs) which bring together high-level experts dealing with national programmes in these technologies. Each IWG meets periodically to serve as a global forum for information exchange and progress reports on national programmes, to identify areas of common interest for collaboration and to advice the Agency on its technical programmes and activities.

Small Specialists Meetings are convened to review progress in selected technology areas in which there is a mutual interest. For more general participation, larger Technical Committee Meetings, Symposia or Workshops are held, often with co-sponsorship of an interested Member State. The International Symposium on Advanced Nuclear Power Systems , which was held in Seoul in October 1993 and was jointly organized by the IAEA and the Korea Electric Power Corporation is a good example.

I was told that the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute suggested to organize, jointly with the IAEA, an International Symposium on Trends in Design and Technology Development for Evolutionary Water Cooled Reactors , to be held in Korea in 1998. This suggestion will be taken up during the preparation of the Agency s programme and budget for 1997-98. I welcome this proposal.

The shortage of potable water from available natural resources is already evident in many areas of the world and will become more acute in the future. I understand ROK has also experienced a shortage of potable water since the second half of last year. Let me report to you that in response to the renewed interest in the use of nuclear energy for seawater desalination, the IAEA conducted an up-to-date review of the subject since 1992. Particularly in response to the resolution of the General Conference of the IAEA last September in Vienna, the IAEA initiated the Options Identification Programme, which can narrow down a broad range of possibilities of seawater desalination using nuclear energy to a limited set of practical demonstration projects. This programme could be carried out initially over a period of about two years if extrabudgetary contributions were offered by interested Member States. I would like to welcome the participation of the Republic of Korea in this programme.

Tomorrow I shall participate in the inauguration of the Korea Multi- Purpose Research Reactor, HANARO, at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) site in Taejon. The reactor design construction and commissioning represents a great achievement of which the Republic of Korea can be justly proud. It is a demonstration of how the nuclear technology has progressed in your country.

With all the advancements made in the peaceful uses of atomic energy in the Republic of Korea, the IAEA is now in a position to set up technical co-operation projects to use the excellent training and research facilities you have for the benefit of many developing countries, especially in the Asia and Pacific region.