Governing Spent Nuclear Fuel Beyond National Borders: Institutionalizing Trust in East Asia

This study examines the governance challenges of spent nuclear fuel management and the prospects for international cooperation in East Asia. Despite decades of technological development, only a few countries—most notably Finland and Sweden—have realized geological disposal facilities, while most others continue to rely on interim storage arrangements. Because spent fuel management involves extremely long time horizons, substantial financial costs, and potential transboundary environmental risks, policy frameworks contained in one country face inherent structural limitations. Drawing on the European experience, particularly the regulatory cooperation developed through the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA), this study explores the institutional conditions that enable gradual regulatory convergence and mutual learning. Rather than advocating a direct transplantation of European institutions, it identifies several transferable elements of cooperation. The study proposes a phased approach for East Asia that begins with environmental monitoring and information sharing, advances toward regulatory learning and joint research, and treats the possibility of shared disposal strategies as a long-term horizon for regional nuclear governance.