Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) has signed a follow-up memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japan's IHI Corporation (formerly Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries) and the Hanwon Central Research Institute for joint cooperation on a low-level radioactive waste disposal project in Japan. KHNP noted that it had commercialised the world's first 'vitrification treatment technology' in 2009, which dramatically reduces the volume of low-level waste (LLW), lowering disposal costs and preventing external spills of radioactive material. The technology received a Korean patent in 2011. Based on the technology, KHNP signed an MOU with IHI in 2013 for the disposal of LLW from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP. Under the new MOU, the two companies "plan to pursue the expansion of low-level radioactive waste disposal business in Japan in earnest".
Image: (Left) Yasuyuki Hasegawa, IHI General Manager (Right) Shin Ho-cheol, Director of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Central Research Institute, at the signing ceremony