한국과 미국의 사용후핵연료 처리에 관한 비교법제 연구

Korea is geographically lacking in underground resources, and most of the country is composed of mountainous areas. Due to this geographical situation, nuclear energy was selected for energy security, and nuclear energy is continuously used until about 35 years later, starting with the Gori Unit 1 nuclear power plant in 1987. Spent nuclear fuel generated by continuous operation of nuclear power plants is classified as high-level radioactive waste, and Korea is stored in temporary storage facilities near nuclear power plants for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel under the Korea-U.S. agreement. However, in Korea, the amount of spent nuclear fuel stored temporarily on the nuclear power plant site will soon reach saturation, which may inevitably lead to the inevitable suspension of the operation of the currently in operation. In addition, there is no law on permanent management and disposal of high-level radioactive waste in Korea, so it is urgent to enact a law for permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste for disposal of spent nuclear fuel as soon as possible. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act, enacted in 1982 after operating commercial nuclear power plants in the 1960s, is the first law to develop a permanent disposal plan for high-level radioactive waste. Reviewing the US spent nuclear fuel management policy and legislation similar to Korea's nuclear power plant policy is necessary to derive improvement measures to solve the problem of Korea's disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Therefore, through a legal review in terms of procedural, compensatory, and safety management of spent nuclear fuel, this paper comparedly analyzed the legislative situation surrounding the US spent fuel disposal site and the issue.