S. Korean lab wins deals to treat fusion reactor waste

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's state-run atomic energy laboratory has
secured three contracts to treat radioactive waste created by a multinational
experimental fusion reactor being built in France, the government said Tuesday.
The 410,000 euro (US$573,099) deal calls for the development of technologies
related to analyzing and transporting tritium found in metallic radioactive waste
created by the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said.
The state-run Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) will also be tasked
with conducting studies to remotely handle radioactive waste materials, the
ministry said.
"The latest success is a solid testament to South Korea's globally recognized
technology prowess in this field, and can help the country expand its role in the
ongoing fusion energy project," a ministry official said.
Before KAERI won the new contracts, local laboratories had secured a total of 10
projects from ITER.
Tritium, also known as Hydrogen-3, is a naturally abundant isotope that plays a
prominent role in efforts to develop nuclear fusion because of the large amount
of energy in can produce through carefully controlled reactions with deuterium.
ITER uses tritium and deuterium to release helium and neutron particles that
effectively allows for the creation of an artificial sun on Earth. Such a system
can theoretically provide the word with a limitless supply of energy.
South Korea is a member of the ITER consortium -- made up of the European Union
(EU), the United States, Japan, Russia, China and India -- which is working on an
operable fusion power testbed.
Scheduled for completion by around 2018, experiments are to be conducted for
about 20 years to check the feasibility of the technology. Once this process is
underway, a demonstration plant that can actually generate power is to be set up
sometime mid-century.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)