KEPCO Nuclear Fuel Co. (KNF) made the list of “Excellent Quality Competitive Enterprise Prizes” for the 15th consecutive year in the first-class public entity category of the Korea National Quality Awards.
The 41st National Quality Management Convention was held at the at COEX Auditorium in Seoul on Nov. 18. The company also won the Presidential Award, Gold in the quality team competition.
KNF is the one and only professional nuclear fuel design and fabrication company in Korea. As a government reinvested company, KNF is responsible for providing high-end and safe nuclear fuel to all 24 local nuclear power plants in Korea, both PWR & PHWR (CANDU) type, contributing to ensuring nuclear power safety and efficient operation of nuclear units. Currently, KNF produces 550 ton-U for PWR reactors and 400 ton-U for PHWR reactors annually.
KNF is also a global technology development company that conducts research on nuclear reactor core designs and functions related to safety evaluation, as well as research on the development of its own next-generation nuclear fuel. The company also exports core parts based on technology and expertise it has accumulated to such countries as the United States, China, Japan and Brazil.
It was in 1988 that the company introduced foreign nuclear power quality guarantee systems. KNF has evolved itself by overhauling them in accordance with Korean regulations on nuclear safety and quality management for meeting certification conditions. In particular, the company established and operated its unique KEPCO NF Innovative Production System (KIPS) in 2010. The system is designed to ensure high-efficiency and low-cost production with the goal of producing defect-free nuclear fuel, boasting the world’s top-rated quality and high performances.
In this regard, the company has implemented six unit activities, including self-management, quality management, facility management, safety management and radwaste management. KNF’s endless efforts to innovate management, including the development of its own quality management systems, objective experimentation and the acquisition of several certifications have paid off. The outcomes of surveys conducted by such international organizations as the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the International Atomic energy Agency (IAEA) confirms this. A 10-year survey of damaged fuel, conducted and released by the ERI in 2012, showed that KNF’s damaged fuel rate stood at one-tenth of the United States’s level. A survey of damaged fuel for light-water reactors conducted by the IAEA indicated that KNF demonstrated the world’s top-rated quality level by logging a damaged fuel rate of 0.96 bundles per the subassembly of 1,000 bundles in 2012, compared to 4.23 in the United States and 3.1 in France in 2011.
KNF President Lee Jae-hee said, “I’m very grateful to be honored with our making it to the list of the Quality Competitive Enterprise Prizes for the 15th consecutive year. I want to share this honor with all staff who have devoted themselves to making quality management part of their daily life to produce and supply the world’s highest-level products.”
He went on to say that the winning of the award would serve as an opportunity to elevate the company’s quality management competitiveness as well as enhance customer satisfaction by producing and supplying quality and safe nuclear fuels, as well as ensure energy self-sufficiency.
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A view of the KNF headquarters in Daejeon.(Photos:KNF)
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