The South Jeolla-Gwangju integrated special city has begun work to establish buffer storage and wastewater treatment facilities essential to the Honam semiconductor national industrial complex.
The city said Sunday it awarded a contract last month for a feasibility study and operational plan covering the installation of a buffer storage facility at the Honam semiconductor industrial complex.
The study will run for seven months, assessing conditions at the candidate site — the Gwangju military airport — and examining the facility's scale, location and operating arrangements.
Buffer storage facilities prevent contaminated water from flowing into rivers in the event of chemical spills, fires or other accidents at an industrial complex.
Given the semiconductor industry's heavy reliance on large volumes of chemicals, such facilities — along with wastewater treatment infrastructure — are considered indispensable to the complex.
In September, the city also awarded a contract for a master plan covering public wastewater treatment facilities at the Honam semiconductor complex.
The city estimates that operating four fabrication plants would consume 650,000 tons of water per day, generating roughly 500,000 tons of wastewater daily.
Under the plan, each company will carry out primary treatment of process wastewater before it is discharged — after further treatment to meet statutory water quality standards — into the nearby Yeongsan River.
The integrated city plans to finalize a master plan by April next year in line with the complex's development schedule, with a facility capable of treating 320,000 tons of wastewater per day to be completed by 2029.
Additional capacity will be built out as wastewater volumes grow with the expansion of fabrication plants.
sij@heraldcorp.com
