Westinghouse Wants to Keep Partnership with Local Nuke Industry
- Korea representative says the Korean industry is in a matured stage

The Korean nuclear power construction industry, which has witnessed its 20th unit starting loading fuel recently, has matured in terms of technology and operation techniques, the chief of Westinghouse Korea says.
Timothy J. Collier, president of Westinghouse Korea said that the Korean nuclear power industry started off with much help form Westinghouse, but Korea Hydro Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) has now matured much to the extent it could pay close attentions on good design, installation and operation techniques.
"KHNP is one of the largest and most modern power fleets, and the plants typically have some of the best operating records in the world." Collier said.
When he came in Korea in 1987 for the first time, his first job was to serve as an assistant project manager for the Yonggwang power plant project. As he traveled back and forth since 1987 an average of seven times yearly, his primary responsibilities were in the United States, but he came here to meet customers and make project review, observe construction and start-up power plants.
When he started coming to Korea, he said the objective was to for Korean companies to be 95 percent self reliant 1995, and there were lots of works that went on toward achieving that goal, Westinghouse was pleased to be part of that efforts.
"I think the Korea nuclear power industry has matured nicely sine that time, because with 20 units, KHNP has one of the most modern fleets in the world. That's because KHNP pays close attention to good design, installation and operation techniques," he said. Collier added that KHNP has done a good job in the understanding of technology and operating the plants.
Westinghouse offers extensive design and service capabilities, and Korea is one of its priority markets for Westinghouse, he said. Our approach for Korea has been foreign partnership to localize technology with local partners, and the approach has been successful for both the local nuclear industry in Korea and for Westinghouse, Collier said. He expressed the hope that Westinghouse looks forward to continuing to take part in the Korean industry in that fashion. The partnership has been subcontract relationship, partnership, and friendship, he opined.
Asked to comment about the Korean government's decision to suspend the privatization of the power industry, compared to the blackout situation in California, Collier, said, "The issue in the States is a little different issue in Korea." His opinion is that the California case is not a very good model on how privatization should be done.
Collier noted, "What happened in California was that the price of electricity to the public was fixed but no steps were taken to fix cost of electricity and it put the utility in a very difficult situation. And to complicate the matter worse, there were some inappropriate actions taken by outside companies to artificially influence the price of electricity. The two things were combined to cause the crisis of California."
"The situation has caused many people in the United States to reconsider the privatization, and several parts of the States are maintaining that the public sector should regulate electricity supply, and in particular, on the southern parts of the States, the crisis in California has caused them to slow down localization or privatization," he said.
In Korea, the Korean government has talked about the privatization of the supply base of the industry. Doosan, his predecessor Hanjung, a government-owned company, have been actually privatized and the rest of the industry remains the government's owned agencies. The privatization of Doosan is a good example to have positive impacts on the industry in general, he said.
"I think that the situation in Korea is right now probably similar to some parts in the United States that have not been privatized yet. I believe that the course and approach are good for both countries," he said.
Assuming that in consideration of current levels, oil prices could increase around $73 per barrel, he said, "Nuclear power is very competitive from the economic standpoint even at today's oil price, about $55."
With a newer design - APR-1400 that promises a shorter period of time and improved safety in an emergency, total plant costs could be reduced further, he said, adding that those designs promise to continue the development in both the United States and Korea.
The U.S. utility typically operates at the range of 4 cents per kw-hr. Collier said. He said KHNP's operating costs are favorably compared to coal or oil-fired power plants.
Collier emphasized that nuclear power is also environmentally friendly with no green house effects, saying that the issue of environmental protection is getting more and more important to the world. "In terms of costs and environmental protection, nuclear power has a bright future for both Korea and the United States," he said.
Concerning renewable or new energy resources, Collier said the issue is with whether solar power and wind power can be generated under the economic viewpoint, and if in the States, the same amounts of subsidies given to generate solar power were extended to nuclear power, it would reduce operation costs of nuclear power almost to nothing. Nuclear fusion, is still a laboratory technology, and is a far cry for being available commercially, not in 20 years later, he forecast.
As to efforts to reduce operation costs of nuclear power, he said, the U.S. industry is a good example because the U.S.'s demand has grown only very slightly over the past 20 years, but they have not driving need for new nuclear power construction and the U.S. utility has focused primarily on improving the economy and improving safety of current operating units, Collier said. Over the past 20 years, the United States industry has increased reliability and economy of plants of new orders by 20 percent. They added equivalent power generation of 20 plants over that period of time, They have done it by shortening outage schedule, improving maintenance and inspection techniques, improving plant reliability such that unit operate continuously to start and fuel cycle. Most of U.S. customers recognize the link and synergy between improving safety and efficiency, he said.
KHNP is also working well on the optimization of operating power plants such as operation cycle and shorter outage time in a bid to ensure efficiency and safety, he said.
As to the issue of nuclear waste disposal, he said there are solutions on the technical standpoint, but the problem needs to be addressed with local concern and political concern. The situation in Japan is different from that in Korea, but the government here, also bearing some responsibility, will have to deal with public awareness and give more say to residents and local authorities in the process, he said.
Nuclear power is the highest in the world in terms of personal safety like the occurrence of personal accidents, beating all power-generating sources, he said.
Concerning the public misgivings about nuclear power, he said, the industry has some responsibility in terms of helping educate the public, and because of technical subjects, many people in the industry, including marketing managers, cannot communicate with the public as well as they should.
Local population and local authorities need to be given more say in the process of building nuclear power plants, but obtaining a consensus with time limit is a challenging issue in consideration of energy independence, he said.
Asked to comment about the chances of KHNP's bid to explore the Chinese market with its own technology, APR1400, dubbed as Generation 3 Design, he said it is possible, but the opportunities for China, a huge market of potential nuclear power plants, depend on relationships between governments rather than just technologies they offer. He also cited trade deficits between China and the United States as well as those between China and EU.
As to North Korea's nuclear weapons development program and South Korea's uranium enrichment and plutonium separation tests in Korea, he said he has not heard nor seen that weapon-grade plan was carried out in South Korea. He noted that it would be to North Korea's advantage to improve their negotiation position by advertising and overestimating their capabilities. He noted it is up to South Korean government and the other parties of the six-party talks to confirm the actual situation on such things as adverting from North Korean sources.
He said Westinghouse is interested in purely commercial use of nuclear power, not was involved in weapon-grade one.
Concerning his life in Korea, he said his apartment is very nice and Seoul is safe and more greener compared to other metropolitan cities and he receives good hospitality from neighbors even though he have such challenges as communication barriers.
Collier, a former ice hockey referee, likes to play golf sometimes.
He has served as president of Westingnghouse Korea since June 17, 2004. nw