Effort and Prospective on Nuclear Security in ROK

As of July 2013, the Republic of Korea (ROK) has been operating a total of 23 nuclear power reactors at four sites with five new reactors under construction. In addition, the country has been planned to construct two more units at two candidate sites. But, at now, due to change the energy policy, only one candidate site has been constructed and one nuclear power plant has been decommissioned. Otherwise, ROK has also been exporting nuclear power plants to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and building a research reactor to Jordan. These performances have made the nation’s nuclear industry by far the fastest growing industry in the world. While Korea has focused on improvements in the field of nuclear safety (especially after the Fukushima accident), it continues to strengthen nuclear security as well. This was demonstrated when the country hosted the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit and in a speech made by nation’s president emphasizing the need for nuclear and cyber security during the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit (NSS). The paper examined the approaches leading to the establishment of the physical protection systems applied at the nuclear facilities in ROK based on CPPNM. Also, the paper will offer recommendations for further steps to improve the ROK’s existing nuclear security apparatus.