KOPEC Signs MOU on AP1000 Project with SNPEC

Seeks to participate in AP1000-China, AP1000-USA, AP1000-South Africa projects following a deal with Westinghouse

KOPEC has signed an MOU on the provision of consulting services for the nuclear power AP1000 project in China with the State Nuclear Power Engineering Company (SNPEC). SNPEC, responsible for the construction of the AP1000 self-reliance project, is wholly owned by the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. (SNPTC), charged with project management and control, design management, architectural management, commissioning management and procurement.
KOPEC CEO An Seung-kyoo and his project development team announced KOPEC’s participation in the design of the AP1000, the latest nuclear reactor developed by Westinghouse, and related technologies during an IR session at SNPTC before inking the deal with SNPEC.
Participants from SNPTC and SNPEC showed keen interest in a business project roadmap that KOPEC suggested after finding out the Chinese side’s needs.
The session served as an opportunity for KOPEC to be recognized for the excellence of its own design technology and capability to execute projects. This led to signing an MOU designed to promote continuous support in order to facilitate the progress of the AP1000 project.
KOPEC soon plans to hold negotiations on the mutual exchange of technologies on the provision of technology support services for the AP1000 project with SNPEC and SNPTC.
In 2007, Westinghouse was selected as the successful bidder for the provision of third generation nuclear power technology to China. Under the deal, nuclear power units with AP1000, an advanced pressure reactor, are now under construction.
In recent years, KOPEC has been aggressively striving to enter the global project market by making the most of the experiences and expertise it has accumulated while carrying out domestic power plant projects. In 2005, KOPEC signed a technology consulting service contract on the so-called NuStart project with Westinghouse, ushering in an era of full-fledged overseas exploration. In March 2008, KOPEC signed a contract with Westinghouse for the design of the AP1000. The deal is significant in that the agreement has advanced the method of exporting Korea’s nuclear technology from that of dispatching human resources overseas and providing technical services to that of exporting a comprehensive package whereby KOPEC takes charge of the entire process of key nuclear power plant design. It is also noteworthy in that Korea has begun exporting nuclear power plant technology to the United States, which originally transferred its nuclear technology to Korea.
Following the deal with Westinghouse, KOPEC has been seeking to participate in such projects as AP1000-China, AP1000-USA and AP1000-South Africa.
KOPEC was established by the government in 1975 to ensure the self-sufficiency of Korea’s nuclear power plant design technology. It has come from strength to strength to become an integrated engineering company boasting top-rated technological prowess in all areas of the power industry ranging from nuclear power plant design to thermal power plant design. KOPEC, the world’s sole company capable of both the general design of nuclear power plants and reactor system design, the two key sectors of the nuclear power industry, plays a pivotal role in the development of the Korean power industry.
Thanks to the KOPEC staff’s strenuous efforts, KOPEC has successfully become self-sufficient in the nuclear and thermal power plant design technology fields in an unprecedentedly short period of time. This has allowed KOPEC to be charged with the general design of a total of 20 nuclear power units including those at Kori, Yongkwang and Ulchin, which have the world’s highest capacity ratio and efficiency. It has also developed the next-generation APR1400 (Advanced Power Reactor 1400) with enhanced safety and economical features, which is being applied to Shin Kori Units 3 & 4, raising the possibility that Korea’s own nuclear power technology could be exported abroad.
2009 Award for Quality Competitiveness
Meanwhile, KOPEC was selected as “Company of the Year 2009 for Quality Competitiveness,” and was awarded a certificate and plaque from the minister of Knowledge Economy at a conferment ceremony held at the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) on Nov. 10.
The Company of the Year for Quality Competitiveness award, initiated in 1997 by the government for the purpose of promoting companies and aiding the market, specifically targets the manufacturing, construction and public service industries. To select the winner on the basis of an evaluation index which includes quality competitiveness, an evaluation team composed of experts from industry, academia and institutes visits the sites to verify the results of companies’ self-evaluation efforts, publicly reevaluates them, selects the best companies, and announces and promotes the excellence of the quality of the selected companies based inside and outside of Korea.
KOPEC has retained its status as “Company of the Year for Quality Competitiveness” for the third consecutive year since 2007, in recognition of the soundness of its quality system and the excellence of its quality competitiveness, based on a field-evaluation conducted on Sept. 3 encompassing a range of indices for public service industries, including strategy and management system, corporate culture and HR management, information analysis and management, quality system, customer satisfaction (CS), business records, proposed activities and construction & environment.
Such an achievement is the fruit of KOPEC’s ceaseless efforts to bring its electricity technology to the global-level by developing its own construction-design technologies for domestic power plants by promoting steady R&D based on its passion and commitment to develop the engineering industry, and by raising its quality competitiveness via the fostering of key talents. Such resounding success in having its quality improvement activities, such as technical innovation and productivity improvement efforts, recognized for three consecutive years by a government body has also contributed greatly to raising KOPEC’s quality competitiveness and corporate reputation.
KOPEC will continue with its ongoing efforts to take its technology to the next level to promote the EPC project, and work to raise its quality competitiveness through the commercialization of R&BD (Research & Business Development) technology and the fostering of key talents, while striving to become a Global Power EPC company that materializes customer value with the very best technologies. nw

KOPEC CEO An Seung-kyoo signs an MOU on the AP1000-China Project with his SNPEC counterpart on Dec. 16.