IAEA DDG-SG visited KAERI

A team of IAEA Safeguard staff members, headed by Mr. Tero Varjoranta, the Deputy Director General of the IAEA Department of Safeguards, visited KAERI on July 18, 2014.
During his meeting with Mr. Varjoranta, Dr. H. R. Kim, senior vice president of KAERI, commended the noble efforts that the IAEA as a nuclear watchdog has made in verifying nuclear activities around the world. Dr. Kim said that KAERI has carried out a lot of cooperative activities with the Agency to enhance the international transparency and reliability of nuclear fuel cycle research, particularly collaborative research on the development of an IAEA safeguard approach for a pyroprocessing facility that has been underway since 2008 between Korea and the Agency under the Member State Support Program (MSSP). He noted that as a follow up to the MSSP, KAERI is implementing a collaborative research project on the application and verification of the IAEA safeguard technology for the world's first engineering-scale PyRoprocess Integrated inactive DEmonstration facility (PRIDE), which was constructed at KAERI. The results will lay the foundation for an IAEA safeguard model for pyroprocessing facilities to be constructed all over the world, as well as in Korea. Dr. Kim appreciates the Agency’s approval of the designation of KAERI as a qualified laboratory for its Network of Analytical Labs (NWAL) for NWAL for conducting a bulk analysis of environmental samples. 
Mr. Varjoranta said that with the expansion of nuclear power program, the IAEA made huge changes in safeguards work accordingly. Mentioning that Korea is one of the close IAEA partners in the world’s safeguard activities, Mr. Varjoranta expressed his appreciation for active role KAERI has played in the development of safeguards technology. The IAEA delegation was briefed on the Advanced Fuel Cycle System and made a tour of the PRIDE facility.
The High-Level Policy Consultation between the IAEA and the ROK was held at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on June 17 to discuss issues of mutual concern, including dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue within the IAEA, ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in safeguards and verification, and progress in improving the IAEA safeguards system to enhance nuclear non-proliferation-related ability.