A high-ranking U.S. nuclear security official has indicated that the U.S. is unwilling to allow South Korea to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. This comes ahead of the revision of the South Korea-U.S. Atomic Energy Agreement

Thomas D’Agostino, Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, told reporters in Vienna, Austria that South Korea’s intention to reprocess spent nuclear fuel is detrimental to nuclear security.

South Korea is seeking to revise the agreement to allow for dry processing, also known as pyro-processing, of spent nuclear fuel to recycle it for peaceful purposes.

The South Korea-U.S. Atomic Energy Agreement bans reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. As the agreement will expire in 2014, Seoul and Washington plan to discuss its revision in the second half of this year.