An Awesome Deal in China

Doosan Heavy to supply nuke reactors and steam generators to China's nuke power plants

Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co. said it has been selected as the supplier for nuclear reactors and steam generators for two nuclear power plants to be built in China and a contract will be signed on April 23, the company said April 13.
This makes the first time that a Korean firm received such orders from a foreign country, which is being taken as a confirmation that the world has finally recognized Korea's nuclear power generation equipment production technologies. The feat also has been recognized as Doosan Heavy's gaining an advantage in entering China's nuke power construction market, estimated to be some $60 billion worth by 2020 as China plans to build 20 nuke power plants during the period.
According to government and industry sources, Doosan Heavy got an order from State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. to supply nuke reactors and steam boilers to a nuke power plant to be built in Shanmun near Shanghai and Haian in Shandung Province, China, by 2012.
Each nuke power plant will have 1 million kw power generating capacity and Doosan Heavy is expected to earn from $1.5 to $2 billion out of $4 billion that the two nuke power plants will cost to build.
They said Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Kim Young-ju and top executives of Doosan Heavy led by Vice Chairman Park Yong-song and President Lee Nam-doo are expected to be in China to sign the contract with SNPTC and Westinghouse as the priority negotiator.
Westinghouse will design the two nuke power plants and Doosan Heavy will supply their key components designed and produced by itself. The sources said the deal means that Doosan Heavy's nuke power equipment production technology got China's recognition.
Doosan Heavy plans to round up its detailed issues before signing an official contract by the end of this year, the sources said. The company plans to begin the work on designing the nuke reactors and steam boilers next year and launch the production. Nuke reactors generate heat with nuke fuel and steam boilers supply steam to generate power, the two key elements of a nuke power plant.
Doosan Heavy getting the orders for nuke reactors and steam boilers from China is a feat that the Korean nuke power generation equipment production technologies have finally got the international recognition for the first time in 30 years.
In the past three decades, Doosan Heavy and Korea Heavy Industry, the forerunner of Doosan Heavy, has been working to localize the production of nuke power generation equipment with technologies transferred from Westinghouse and GE in the United States from the early '70s. As a result, Doosan Heavy supplied 8 nuke reactors to Kori nuke power plant and four nuke reactors to Shinkori and Shinwolsung nuke power plants.
In the middle of '70s, Doosan Heavy succeeded in localization of nuke reactor production by 100 percent and in 2002, the company succeeded in exporting nuke reactors worth $50 million to the Unites Sates.
Doosan Heavy ranks the 5th in terms of the capability to produce nuke power plant facilities locally in the world, industry sources believe.
They also believe that Doosan Heavy has secured a launch pad for its inroads into world nuke power plant market including those in Romania, Indonesia, Vietnam, Germany, and even in the United States and the company will go after the deals to supply core parts of nuke power plants in those countries.
The Korean nuke power plant parts maker beat out such rival firms as Framatom of France and ASE in Russia to win the deal in China and the company plans to secure a similar deal in Romania in cooperation with Westinghouse.
Doosan Heavy expects to broaden its nuke power plant market around the world in the near future as many countries plan to build nuke power plants with oil prices rising sky high. Indonesia, for one, plans to complete the construction of its nuke power plant in 2016 and build four more by 2025. Vietnam plans to build two nuke power plants by 2017.
A number of countries that already has nuke power plants plan to build more. Germany is reconsidering its plan to scuttle nuke power plants. The U.S., too, plans to change its decision not build more nuke power plants that continued for 30 years under President Bush's energy independence policy. The U.S. plans to build 30 nuke power plants in cooperation with Japan, but Doosan Heavy is expected to find niche markets in the deal between the two countries. nw

Chairman of Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co. Park Yong-sung.

Doosan Heavy Executive Vice President Kim Tae-woo shakes hands after signing the historic MOU with his counterpart from Westinghouse in Shanghai April 24, while MOCIE Minister Kim Young-ju, KEPCO President Lee Won-gul and Doosan Heavy President Lee are watching the event.