KOPEC Strives to be More Competitive in Overseas Business

Explores ways of promoting joint bids and collaboration with foreign concerns and institutions

Korea Power Engineering Company, Inc. (KOPEC) is accelerating its bid to amp up its competitive edge in the overseas nuclear energy business following Korea's successful landing of a nuclear power deal with the United Arab Emirates.
KOPEC President and CEO Ahn Seung-kyoo made an official visit to six Japanese powerhouses in the electricity and energy plant fields -- Mitsubishi Corp., Sumitomo Corp., Mitsui Plant System, Marubeni Power Systems Corp., Sojitz Corp. and Toyota Tsusho -- and discussed ways of building a collaborative system in the engineering, procurement and construction sector from March 1-4.
The visit was designed to help KOPEC secure its competitive edge in order to make aggressive inroads into the foreign markets in the years to come, as KOPEC is striving to become an EPC company to cope with the rising trend of one-stop service procurement. KOPEC is accelerating its efforts to expand its business horizons in order to realize the goal of becoming a global top five power EPC company by 2020.
Ahn and his entourage introduced KOPEC's bids for combined-cycle power plant EPC projects in Central and South America and Southeast Asia as well as coal-fired power plant EPC projects in South Africa and discussed ways of making joint bids and promoting collaboration.
KOPEC is expected to gain momentum in the overseas EPC field as the Japanese companies agreed to promote ways of making joint bids and promoting collaboration in the international market, recognizing KOPEC's capabilities in the differentiated and specialized construction of power plants and new and renewable energy EPC fields.
In a related development, KOPEC Executive Auditor Kim Ju-wan and his entourage embarked on a trip to the United States from March 8-13 to participate in the Regulatory Information Conference (RIC), organized by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and to visit companies specializing in NRC design certification.
The delegation's participation in the RIC, the world? largest safety regulation standard conference with more than 2,700 attendees from 27 countries, was designed to explore regulatory trends in the United States and publicize KOPEC in connection with the nuclear power deal with the UAE.
The RIC addresses such themes as applications for new power unit approval and permits, regulatory approaches to new reactor designs, security, studies on safety, the NRC's safety culture, operational experiences of nuclear power units in Korea and abroad, and other technological issues. The delegation was given an opportunity to gather information in the United States and learn of technological trends of the participating countries.
The NRC regulates commercial nuclear power plants around the world and other uses of nuclear materials, such as in nuclear medicine, through licensing, inspection and enforcement of its requirements. Acquiring design certification from the NRC is the foremost thing countries have to do in a bid to step up their competitiveness in exporting nuclear power plants.
A design certification team comprising officials from KOPEC, KHNP and other related companies, which was formed last December, had preliminary meetings with the NRC to embark on the design certification process.
In addition, the delegation visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MPR Association and EXCEL Services Corp. to discuss ways of promoting cooperation for acquiring the design certification from the NRC and to explore opportunities for collaboration in its entry into the U.S. market.
Executive Auditor Kim said, "Regulatory information is essential for the nuclear power industry, which puts safety as the top priority. KOPEC needs to ramp up its competitive edge in order to accelerate its capability in its overseas nuclear power exporting business as Korea seeks to land nuclear power unit orders from Turkey and India and other countries following the nuclear power deal with the UAE."
Currently, Kim and other engineers from KOPEC are participating in programs to exchange regulatory information, which is expected to contributing to having the APR1400 design certified by the NRC. nw

KOPEC President and CEO Ahn Seung-kyoo