Korea's nuclear power plant decommissioning standard has cleared the first hurdle toward becoming an international standard.
The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday that Korea's nuclear decommissioning standard has been approved as a New Work Item Proposal (NP) by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The approval comes about three years after Korea became the first country to propose a nuclear decommissioning standard to ISO in June 2023.
The standard was approved with the support of nine member countries, including the United States, China and Japan, after more than three years of discussions in the technical committee. It contains general requirements that apply across the entire decommissioning process, from terminology definitions to planning, execution and management.
NP approval is the first step toward establishing an International Standard (IS), which is then developed through stages including Working Draft (WD), Committee Draft (CD), Draft International Standard (DIS) and Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) approval. "Korea will lead the standard's development as the project leader," a KATS official said. "Starting Wednesday, the proposal will be open for input from each country, with the goal of establishing the international standard in December 2027."
KATS plans to sequentially develop nine additional international standards covering detailed technologies required for the decommissioning process, including radioactive decontamination and dismantling of facilities and components, waste management and site restoration.
Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will also participate in this standardization work to enhance alignment with international nuclear safety standards. KATS expects that the Korea-led international standards will be used as the de facto benchmarks for the global nuclear decommissioning industry, strengthening Korean companies' competitiveness in the global market. According to the IAEA, more than 400 nuclear reactors are expected to be decommissioned worldwide by 2050, with the related market projected to exceed 500 trillion won.
"Korea has so far been on the receiving end of international standards in nuclear plant construction and operation, but this standardization marks a meaningful step forward, putting our country in a position to lead international standards in the decommissioning field," KATS Commissioner Kim Dae-ja said. "We will lead not only ISO but also de facto standardization at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and other bodies to support the export competitiveness of K-nuclear."
