KEPCO Nuclear Fuel (NF) Co. President Kim Ki-hak has declared his company s second founding as the Korean nuclear fuel maker, now in business for 30 years. This year marks the first year of the so-called second take-off period for the next 30 years, and it is set to launch a third nuclear fuel plant, a tube plant, and other megaprojects to secure future growth engines. 

President Kim disclosed this at a ceremony to launch the 2012 business year in which all KEPCO NF executives and staff members participated. Kim urged them to take a determined stance in the same way as when the nuclear fuel business was launched in the 1980s and to devote themselves to making historic megaprojects successful. They pledged to advance the goal of becoming a global top three nuclear fuel maker by 2020. 

KEPCO NF was established in 1982 as a government-invested organization charged exclusively with developing and manufac-turing nuclear fuel in Korea. 

KEPCO NF, with homegrown light water reactor (LWR) and heavy water reactor (HWR) nuclear fuel-manufacturing technology, has developed advanced nuclear fuel, PLUS7 and ACE7. The company now supplies nuclear fuel to 19 LWR nuclear plants in Korea and four HWRs, which have a combined share of about 40 percent in the nation s total electricity generation. 

Besides producing nuclear fuels using dry conversion (DC) processes, the company is developing proprietary next-generation, high-performance nuclear fuel as well as designing reactor cores and evaluating safety to assure the safe and economical production of electrical power in nuclear reactors. It is also designing and producing non-fuel reactor core components while producing tubes for nuclear fuel rods.

Aiming to start production in 2012, it is now developing the third generation advanced nuclear fuel with higher performance and improved safety compared to existing nuclear fuels, called HIPER (high performance with efficiency and reliability). Through these processes and experiences, the company has accumulated rich human resources and technological know-how and is ready to transfer them to those countries that are considering introducing nuclear power plants. 

Leveraging these experiences and technologies, KEPCO NF will develop nuclear power and fuels as new growth engines for export. In conjunction with other companies, including KEPCO Corp., the company is actively expanding its overseas markets, and it will supply high performance nuclear fuels to nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates, which are under construction by KEPCO.

Replacing conventional AUC processes, KEPCO NF is producing nuclear fuels using dry conversion (DC) processes that cost less during manufacturing. When fuel assembly is completed after going through complicated and meticulous processes, the company conducts thorough inspections and evaluations of its products and supplies to nuclear power plants only those products that are evaluated to be 100 percent perfect.