Doosan Enerbility begins manufacturing of core components for Shin-Hanul 3,4

Doosan Enerbility began manufacturing core components for Shin-Hanul 3 and 4 nuclear reactors Monday, after the company signed a 2.9 trillion won ($2.2 billion) supply deal with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) in March.

Lee Chang-yang, eighth from left, minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, poses for a photo during a ceremony held at Doosan Enerbility headquarters in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, on Monday, along with related officials and businesspeople. [DOOSAN ENERBILITY]

CHANGWON, South Gyeongsang — Doosan Enerbility began manufacturing core components for Shin-Hanul 3 and 4 nuclear reactors Monday after the company signed a 2.9 trillion won ($2.2 billion) supply deal with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) in March.

The construction project of Shin-Hanul reactor units 3 and 4, which had been halted under the previous Moon Jae-in administration's nuclear phase-out, signifies Korea's renewed commitment toward the nuclear ramp-up.

"The previous government's unreasonable nuclear phase-out policy and the global fuel price hikes have pushed up the Korea Electric Power Corp.'s deficit into astronomical numbers, which inevitably resulted in the utility rate increase," Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang said during a ceremony held at Doosan Enerbility's headquarters in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, to commemorate the beginning of component production.

"In order to address the issue, prompt restoration of the local nuclear industry and securing global competitiveness became the utmost priority," Lee added, promising active and swift government support.

On the same day, the ministry announced an electricity rate increase of 8 won per kilowatt-hour, which will come into effect from Tuesday.

KHNP CEO Whang Joo-ho, South Gyeongsang Gov. Park Wan-soo and Doosan Enerbility's chief operation officer Jung Yeon-in also attended the event.

During the ceremony, Doosan Enerbility displayed the forging process in which a 17,000-ton press machine shaped alloy steel into a steam generator component for the Shin-Hanul reactors.

The upcoming Shin-Hanul 3 and 4 are two additional nuclear power plants to be built at the Shin-Hanul complex in Uljin, North Gyeongsang. The Shin-Hanul unit 3 is scheduled to be completed by 2032 and unit 4 by 2033.

Doosan Enerbility will manufacture and supply KHNP with key components of the nuclear plants, such as reactors, steam generators and turbine generators, for the next 10 years.

Doosan Enerbility has already lodged 32-billion-won worth of orders with its subcontractors and plans to make additional orders of 220-billion-won this year.

About 460 local suppliers are taking part in the project, according to the company.

Meanwhile, state-run KHNP plans to place 2 trillion won worth of orders for auxiliary equipment for the Shin-Hanul project starting this month.

The auxiliary equipment includes pumps, valves, pipes and cables. A total of 349 kilometers (216.8 miles) of pipes and 8,872 kilometers of cables are expected to be put into the project.

The government, KHNP and Doosan Enerbility aim to speed up order placement for the Shin-Hanul reactors in a bid to revitalize the nuclear supply chain hit by the previous government's nuclear phase-out policies.

On the same day, the Industry Ministry released its plan to pour 2 trillion won for the next five years into R&D of next-generation technologies such as small modular reactors, nuclear plant export and diversification of nuclear plant utilization.

Moreover, the government aims to bring in 4,500 personnel to the nuclear industry by 2030 by setting up related courses and training programs in universities and graduate schools.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]