is Coming to Korea - Korea IT Times

Nuclear
The Best Nuclear Power
Plant Design by KOPEC
KOPEC’s world-class design technology lays the foundation for the
successful construction of nuclear power plants in the UAE
At the end of last year, the entire nation reveled in the news
that S. Korea won a US$40 billion deal to build four nuclear reactors
in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and hailed the first export
of Korean-style nuclear power plants in history. S. Korea
winning this landmark nuclear deal has triggered so much interest
across the political, social, economic spectrum that Korea's
President Lee Myung-bak paid special visits to the construction
sites of the nuclear power plants in S. Korea and announced
"Strategy for exporting S. Korea's nuclear power plants". The
presidential announcement to make the nuclear power industry
one of S. Korea's new growth engines has further heightened public
interest in nuclear-related companies such as the Korea Power
Engineering Company (KOPEC), which specializes in designing
nuclear power plants.
KOPEC was established in 1975 as a public enterprise to wean
S. Korea off its dependence on foreign nuclear power design technologies.
KOPEC is an engineering company that boasts worldclass
technology for designing, engineering, and constructing nuclear
and fossil power plants. In particular, KOPEC is the only
nuclear power plant designer in the world that is capable of designing
core parts of both architect engineering (A/E) and
Nuclear Steam Supply Systems (NSSS), and has been serving as
the backbone of S. Korea's nuclear power industry.
When KOPEC was created, S. Korea was a complete stranger
to designing nuclear power plants. KOPEC officials dispatched
its engineers to nuclear powerhouses such as the U.S. and
European nations to learn advanced nuclear technology, and
went to great lengths to achieve technological independence. As a
result, KOPEC succeeded in independently designing nuclear
power plants in such a short period of time, and has comprehensively
designed a total of 20 nuclear power units in Kori
,Yonggwang, and Ulchin.
Now, KOPEC is building Shin-Kori Units 3 and 4 and Shin-
Ulchin Units 1 and 2 - which will be the first APR1400 (the
Korean Next Generation Reactor) nuclear power plants. The
APR1400 design is the unit that S. Korea put on the table in its
34 KOREA IT TIMES | February 2010
bid for the UAE nuclear deal. In other
words, all the Korean-style nuclear power
plants, whose safety, efficiency and price
competitiveness have been recognized internationally,
owe their existence to
KOPEC's world-class nuclear power plant
design technology. KOPEC also took part
in the Korean consortium that won the nuclear
power deal, issued by the UAE, and
KOPEC's nuclear power plant design technology
played an instrumental role in the
bidding process.
Since its inception, KOPEC has continuously
acquired experiences, knowhow,
and talent through designing nuclear power
plants. In addition, KOPEC's system of managing feedback
from previous projects has enabled the optimization of its design
process. And by taking advantage of IT, KOPEC achieved 4D
design technology that connects designs to construction processes.
It was said that KOPEC's expertise and design technology had
largely contributed to winning the UAE's confidence in S.
Korea's nuclear technology.
Furthermore, KOPEC abides by international safety requirements
for designing nuclear power plants, and KOPEC's standardized
designs and shortened construction periods have enhanced
its price competitiveness to a great degree. The issue of
safety and price competitiveness was the deciding factors in the
UAE's awarding the multi-billion dollar nuclear contract to S.
Korea.
Question and Answer
Q: How did KOPEC's nuclear plant design technologies contribute
to S. Korea's winning the UAE nuclear deal?
A: Under the S. Korean government's pro-nuclear policy, KOPEC
has built nuclear plants on a continuing basis. KOPEC was created
with the aim of gaining technological independence in designing
nuclear power plants.
Since its inception, KOPEC has invested 10 percent of its sales in
R&D projects annually, to improve design technology and standardize
design processes.
KOPEC's system to manage feedback from previous projects has
helped optimize its design process. And we have continued to develop
applicable technology such as 4D design technology that
connect design processes to construction ones. In fact, our new
technology has been applied to our nuclear power plants design.
In addition, KOPEC's continuous participation in the construction of
nuclear power plants over the past 30 years has resulted in the accumulation
of ample experiences, knowhow and excellent talent -
which makes us one of the world's most competitive nuclear plant
design companies.