Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers ISSN:2288-0291(Print) 2288-2790(Online) 한국자원공학회지

The development of a safe disposal program of high-level waste(HLW) generated from nuclear power plants is important. In this study, the recent statuses of the R&D programs in advanced countries including USA, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Finland as well as the current status of disposal project in Korea were reviewed. The required researches for the development of design concept for the deep underground HLW repository and site selection were discussed. For the design concept development and site selection, design of underground excavations and engineering barriers such as buffer and backfill, and THM coupling analysis should be done with inputs of material properties determined from various laboratory and in situ tests.