Wolseong Low- and Intermediate-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center

The Wolseong Low- and Intermediate-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center (WLDC) is a facility used to safely house low- to intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) at Gyeongju in South Korea. The facility features a silo-type design, and its first stage allowed for up to 100,000 barrels of storage, which increased to a total capacity of 800,000 upon completion of the final stage.

South Korea's nuclear power program is fully integrated into the national infrastructure, supplying 30% of its electricity and 8.6% of its total energy usage. As of May 2012, a total of 21 reactors operated in the country generating 18.7 GW. Ongoing and planned projects are estimated to bring South Korea's generating capacity to 32.9 GW by 2030. Waste of low and intermediate levels was stored on-site at each plant; however, after nearly 30 years of energy generation from nuclear power, on-site storage began to reach capacity. Without a separate storage facility, South Korea's government estimated that the storage pools within the Kori Nuclear Power Plant, Ulchin Nuclear Power Plant, and Yonggwang Nuclear Power Plant would have filled by 2016, 2018, and 2021, respectively. The CANDU facility at the Wolseong nuclear power plant would have filled by 2017.

Plans for storage facilities were being drawn up as early as 1986. However, the site was only selected in 2005. After obtaining the permits for the project from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, and the construction and operation licenses from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, construction began in August 2008. By 2010, 1000 drums of LILW waste had been shipped and stored at the not-yet-completed site at Gyeongju. This was the standard-size shipment to be received on-site. Construction was completed in early 2015.