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AsiaElec NUCLEAR AsiaElec
Kepco E&C teams up with
shipbuilder for floating reactors
SOUTH KOREA SOUTH Korea’s Kepco Engineering & Con- as soluble boron-free operation, an in-vessel
struction Co. (Kepco E&C) and Daewoo control rod drive mechanism, and top-mounted
Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in-core instrumentation.
have signed a memorandum of understanding At the 24 September signing ceremony,
(MoU) to co-operate on the development of Yeom Hak-gi, director of Kepco corporate R&D
floating nuclear power plants (NPPs). subsidiary the Korea Electric Power Research
Under the MoU, the two companies will Institute, said: “The synergy between Daewoo
jointly advance technology development for off- Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering’s excel-
shore NPPs. Kepco E&C said this will draw upon lent marine floatation design and manufac-
its “world-class nuclear power plant design and turing technology and the advanced nuclear
construction technology, and offshore nuclear technology of Korea Electric Power Technology
technology development” and DSME’s diverse is expected.”
experience and know-how of shipbuilding. Choi Dong-gyu, director of DSME’s Central
Kepco E&C said the agreement was expected Research Institute, added that through its co-op-
to lead to the development of floating offshore eration with Kepco E&C it would be able “to pro-
NPPs equipped with BANDI-60 reactors, a small vide customers with products with enhanced
modular reactor design it has been developing stability and reliability”.
since 2016. Russia’s first floating NPP, Akademik Lomon-
The BANDI-60 is a block-type pressurised osov, which comprises two 35MW KLT-40C
water reactor with a power output of 200MWt reactors, started providing electricity in Decem-
per 60MWe. According to Kepco E&C, the ber 2019 to the isolated grid of the Chaun-Bili-
block-type design – in which the main compo- bino energy centre in Pevek, which is in the
nents are directly connected, nozzle-to-nozzle, Chukotka region of Russia’s Far East. The plant
instead of using connecting pipes – can eliminate was fully commissioned in May this year.
the risk of a large-break loss-of-coolant accident In early January 2016, both China National
and also provides improved operational surveil- Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) and China General
lance and maintenance as compared with the Nuclear (CGN) announced plans to construct
integral type design. The reactor would operate demonstration small modular offshore mul-
at a temperature of around 325℃. To enhance the ti-purpose reactors, based on their ACP100S and
safety and performance, Kepco C&E says sev- ACPR50S reactor designs respectively.
eral advanced design features are adopted such
COAL
JERA to close inefficient
coal-fired plants by 2030
P JAPAN’S biggest power generator JERA is to inefficient plants to be ones that use “supercriti-
close the coal-fired power plants it views as inef- cal or less” technology.
ficient by 2030 as part of wider plans to achieve “As a company operating globally and as a
net zero emissions of carbon dioxide by 2050. utility generating about one-third of domestic
The closure, which the company announced electricity, setting these goals is an essential qual-
this week, meets the current Japanese govern- ification for remaining an energy company and
ment’s climate change goal. an entry ticket for doing business in the global
However, JERA is the first of Japan’s state- market,” Hisahide Okuda, managing executive
owned generators to announced detailed plans officer at JERA, told a news conference.
to meet the government’s targets. However, JERA did not provide any details
A government panel is deliberating on how to of which power plants would be closed down by
define an inefficient coal-fired plant, JERA said 2030, citing competitive reasons.
as reported by Reuters. To achieve the 2050 target, JERA aims to
JERA, which is owned by TEPCO and Chubu boost its renewables output. It aims to expand
Electric Power, said this week that it considered its offshore footprint and to expand the use of
Week 41 14•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P11
