In order to provide a consistent direction to long-term R&D activities the KAEC approved a long-term development plan in December 2008 for future nuclear reactor systems which include SFR, pyroprocess and VHTR. This long-term plan is implemented through nuclear R&D programs of the National Research Foundation, with funds from the Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MEST). The Korea Atomic Energy Promotion Commission (KAEPC) approved the modification of the plan in November 2011, reflecting the maturity of technology achieved hitherto and the budget condition. The modified plan includes a design development of the prototype SFR by 2017, its design approval and construction by 2020 and 2028, respectively as shown in Figure 15.3. The SFR Development Agency (SFRA) was organized in May 2012 to secure the budget and efficiently manage the SFR development project. According to the plan, KAERI, the main body responsible for the fast reactor development in Korea, is developing a conceptual design of the prototype SFR for completion developed in 2012. The prototype SFR development will be extended to the commercialization phase with its initialization around 2050.

For the development of pyroprocess, KAERI has established a PyRoprocess Integrated inactive DEmonstration (PRIDE) facility to produce the engineering data. The pyroprocessing technology capitalizes on the recovery of actinide elements from spent fuel for recycling and fissioning in SFRs for the purpose of burning long-lived radionuclides. The overriding goal of this R&D plan for pyroprocessing technology combined with SFRs is to develop a closed nuclear fuel cycle that is economically viable, resistant to diversion of nuclear materials for a nuclear weapons program, and that minimizes the generation of waste products, thereby efficiently increasing the capacity of a final spent fuel repository by approximately 100 times. In this fuel cycle, plutonium remains with other isotopes and impurities throughout the processes and cannot be chemically separated in a pure form, which reduces the risk of nuclear proliferation. Confining the final product in a hot cell also makes it far less open to misuse.