The United States and the Republic of Korea began discussions on writing the new civil nuclear cooperation agreement on October 25 in Washington, DC. The Korean delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Cho Hyun; the U.S. delegation was led by Department of State Special Advisor for Nonproliferation and Arms Control Robert Einhorn. The current Agreement for Cooperation between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Korea Concerning Civil Uses of Atomic Energy, adopted in 1972 and amended in May 1974, will expire in early 2014.
At the October 25 meeting, the representatives of the two governments outlined their basic positions regarding negotiations and discussed the schedule and venue for continuing consultations for a new civil nuclear cooperation agreement. Both sides expect the new agreement to ensure the continuance and further development of the robust bilateral cooperation they have enjoyed in atomic energy for more than fifty years, as well as to further contribute to the strengthening of their alliance by enhancing cooperation in nuclear research and development, industry and commerce in the future.
The two sides also discussed a proposed joint study of nuclear power reactor spent fuel disposition options, including pyroprocessing. They agreed that technical experts would meet soon to work out the scope of the study and the venue and schedule for completing it.
