Despite the tough conditions, workers at Doosan Enerbility’s plant appear to be excited amid expectation the company would land the nuclear power unit order, which could help revive the nuclear power industry.
A Doosan Enerbility official said, “The resuming of such a work is a first fruit of the President Yoon Suk-yeol’s government’s decision to abolish the policy of waning the nation off nuclear power.”
The official expressed hope that the days of hardship are gone, and the days will come when the nuclear power ecosystem is revived and the economy in Changwon is coming back to life.
Doosan Enerbility’s plant in Changwon stands at 4.3 million sq. meters in size, equivalent to the size of a combined 660 soccer stadiums. It is an integrated plant capable of producing items, ranging from raw materials to finished products.
The plant comprises of a nuclear power mill to forge industrial basic materials and main equipment of nuclear power, a turbine mill, and a wind power mill.
The nuclear power unit to produce steam generators, pressurizers and coolant pumps was once almost empty due to the previous government’s anti-nuclear power policy.
The unit, now resuming its operation, pins hope of overflowing works on the back of the full resumption of the development of next-generation nuclear power technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMRs) and exporting of nuclear power units.
There are only four countries capable of producing reactors. They are Korea, the United States, Japan and France. Doosan Enerbility is the sole reactor maker in Korea.
Globally, Doosan Enerbility is also recognized for the development of gas turbines for electricity generation.
Doosan Enerbility became the world’s fifth company to have developed a 270MW gas turbine for power generation in 2019.
The company, standing at 70 percent in terms of localization, aims to raise it to 100 percent by 2030.
Meanwhile, Doosan Enerbility posted 4.04 trillion won and 364.6 billion won in operating profit in the first quarter of this year on a consolidated basis.
The figures represent a 31.6 percent surge and an 89.7 percent jump year-on-year in terms of sales and operating profit.
Doosan Enerbility Steps Up Foothold as ‘Global SMR Foundry’ at U.S., Leading SMR Market
Doosan Enerbility has solidified his foothold as a “global small modular reactor (SMR) foundry” company in the United States, a leader of the global SMR market.
Doosan Enerbility struck an MOU with NuScale Power and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) on the sidelines of the Korea-U.S. Advanced Industry Forum and Clean Energy Partnership held at Washington DC on April 25.
They established a foundation to make a global inroad in diverse areas, such as technology, financing and value chain, the company said on April 27.
On the same day, top managers of Doosan Enerbility held separate meetings with their counterparts of NuScale and X-energy and discussed ways of promoting cooperation, including steps to flesh up the MOUs.
NuScale, intending a bid to expand the Asian market, plans to utilize Doosan Enerbility’s supply network through cooperation with the latter.
Doosan Enerbility is expected to give a leg-up to NuScale’s producing SMRs, now under development, in the United States, based on its capability and experiences to produce main equipment of nuclear power units.
Doosan Enerbility became Korea’s first company to make an equity investment into NuScale in 2019.
The company has maintained close relationships with NuScale by having invested a combined $140 million with Korean investors.
Under a contract on the production of SMR raw materials signed with NuScale last year, Doosan Enerbility is embarking on the production of reactors, to be placed at the United States’ first SMR power plant, in late 2023.
NuScale’s SMR project calls for six 77MW reactor modules for a combined 462 MW capacity at Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), scheduled to be dedicated in 2029.
A Doosan Enerbility official said, “The events have become the subject of attention form the business circles as an opportunity for Korea and the United States to declare a vision of making a joint foray into the global SMR market, and expectations of synergetic effects and market expansion are thought to have brought together leading companies of both countries.”
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