President Choi Ik-soo of KEPCO Nuclear Fuel.

President Choi Ik-soo of KEPCO Nuclear Fuel discloses his management plan after taking office as president at KEPCO NF headquarters in Daejeon on March 18. (Photos: KEPCO NF)

Choi Ik-soo of KEPCO Nuclear Fuel (KEPCO NF) took office as president at KEPCO NF headquarters in Daejeon on March 18 and began his three-year term.

In his speech at an inauguration ceremony, President Choi said, “KEPCO NF will build foundation for its future growth by developing and implementing new businesses for its sustainable growth, and we’ll make every effort to ensure a stable supply of nuclear fuel and realize safety and integrity management.”

KEPCO NF will rejuvenate its organization to maintain smooth labor-management relations by building an environment of promoting harmony between labor and management, and establishing a foundation of collaboration by ramping up relations with related outside institutions and organizations, he said.

President Choi, born in Hongseong, Chungcheongnam-do, graduated from Inha University’s Economics Department.

In 1987, he entered KEPCO, in which he held major positions such as chief of the Audit Office and head of the Daejeon-Chungnam Headquarters for more than 30 years.

Choi had served as head of KEPCO NF’s Business Management Division since 2018. He had been credited with budgetary belt-tightening and playing a leading role related to a dramatic change in electricity sales contracts, thus contributing to turning around from losses.

KEPCO NF launched a public contest of tapping a president last December. President Choi was elected at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting, held on March 17.

KEPCO NF Conducts Massive Safety Inspection

KEPCO NF launched a massive springtime safety inspection of facilities.

According to the 2021 safety inspection plan, established by KEPCO NF, the period between March 2 and March 5 was set as companywide safety inspection week, and safety checks would be done to build safety working conditions and raise awareness toward safety.

All company officials, as well at officials from its cooperative companies and contractors of construction sites, participated in safety inspections, targeting not only production facilities, but also offices and construction sites.

A joint safety inspection team toured the second nuclear fuel production line related to reconversion, sintering and other processes. It looked into dangerous factors and whether officials there followed safety guidelines.

They were ordered to correct things that needed to be revamped.

About KEPCO NF

KEPCO NF is the only professional nuclear fuel design and fabrication company in Korea.

As a government reinvested company, KEPCO NF is responsible for providing high-end and safe nuclear fuel to all local nuclear power plants in Korea, both PWR & PHWR (CANDU) type, contributing to ensuring nuclear power safety and efficient operation of nuclear units.

KEPCO NF 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.

In addition, KEPCO NF has been constantly exporting primary components of nuclear fuel and service equipment, and started supplying the nuclear fuels to Barakah nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates in 2017.