KEDO’s LWR Project: Unique Challenges in a Nuclear Power Project by Any Standard

In 1994 the United States of America and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) signed the Agreed Framework in which the DPRK committed to shut down their graphite-moderated reactors and related facilities and to remain a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In return the U.S. agreed, among other things, to deliver two light water reactor (LWR) units to the DPRK which should meet international safety standards. For the implementation of this Agreed Framework, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) was founded. KEDO decided to build two units of the Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant (KSNP) model, which is a proven design of U.S. origin. This paper describes the status of this project (the LWR project) and the unique challenges that KEDO must overcome to implement the construction and commissioning of this project and have the DPRK ready for plant takeover.