S.Korea, U.S. to Start Talks on Nuclear Energy Treaty

Korea and the U.S. will begin talks on Oct. 25 about the revision of a bilateral nuclear energy agreement, which expires in 2014. The agreement prohibits Korea from reprocessing its own spent nuclear fuel which is piling up in storage.

Cho Hyun, the chief negotiator in the talks, and Robert Einhorn, the U.S. State Department's special adviser for non-proliferation and arms control, agreed when they met in Seoul in August to start the talks in October.

A government official said last Friday the two countries will discuss differences in views between the two countries on how to handle spent fuel from nuclear power generation.

Separately, the two countries are expected to review the technical aspect, such as feasibility, economic efficiency and safety of Seoul's proposed solution, namely a process known as pyroprocessing. Pyroprocessing does not produce plutonium that is pure enough for nuclear weapons -- the reason for the prohibition.