TheDevelopment of

theNuclear Power Industry

in Korea
 Introduction
• After the Korean war in 1953 the country
was in absolute poverty with no nuclear
technology at all.
• Korea today has 20 nuclear power plants,
producing 36% of the total energy
consumption.
• It is part of the OECD and reaches rank 6 in
nuclear power generation with 95%
localized nuclear power technology.
• How was is possible to get to today’s
state so quickly?
 Evolution of nuclear power
program in Korea
Stage 1 : Preparation
Stage 2 : Implementation of Foreign
technology
Stage 3 : Acquisition of peripheral
technology
Stage 4 : Acquisition of core technology
Stage 5 : Improvement of foreign
technology
 NSI: Preparation of
Infrastructure
• 1957 Korea joined the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) out of interest for the use
of atomic energy.
• 1958 a law was passed to build up the
infrastructure for atomic energy and therefore
created some institutions:
– The Atomic Energy Agency (AEA), taking charge of
the atomic energy development task.
– The Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute
(KAERI), engaging in research.
– The Korean Atomic Energy Commission (KAEC)
advising on policy, budget and regulations.
• 1962 a research reactor was supplied from the US,
called TRIGA Mark-II, which enabled Korea to
study nuclear power generation.
 NSI: Decision to build nuclear
power plants
• Market Pull
– Korea is lacking natural resources like gas, coal or oil.
– Energy consumption grew through growth of economy.
• The Government introduced a master plan to build two
nuclear power plants in 1968 after a feasibility study by
IAEA.
• The local national firm, the Korea Electric Power
Corporation (KEPCO) was to be taking charge of the
construction and operation of the plants.
• After a study by KAERI researchers, who where trained
abroad, the US company Westinghouse was given to
contract to build the first nuclear power plant in Korea in
1971.
 Evolution of nuclear power
program in Korea
Stage 1 : Preparation
Stage 2 : Implementation of Foreign
technology
Stage 3 : Acquisition of peripheral
technology
Stage 4 : Acquisition of core technology
Stage 5 : Improvement of foreign
technology
 Technology Diffusion:
Participation in Work on the
•
Power Plants
The first three nuclear power plants were completely
on a turnkey basis.
• Korea did not have any knowledge about
architecture engineering, so it was decided to gain
knowledge by working together with a western
company:
– 1975 a joint venture was established between a Korean
company and Burn and Roe, but no real knowledge
could be acquired due to conflicts with Bechtel, the
prime contractor for the second plant who wanted
exclusivity.
• Participation on civil engineering was extremely
limited: The only domestic firm being able to account
in about 5% of total construction cost was Hyundai,
helping with site drawings under expert supervision.
 Technology Diffusion: Power
Plant Operation
• Technical emphasis was largely
placed on acquisition of operation
techniques for self-operation of the
turnkey reactors:
– Overseas training of about 200
operators in the 1970s
– Consulting of advanced technical
engineering services for quality control
and pre-operational testing.
 Evolution of nuclear power
program in Korea
Stage 1 : Preparation
Stage 2 : Implementation of Foreign
technology
Stage 3 : Acquisition of peripheral
technology
Stage 4 : Acquisition of core technology
Stage 5 : Improvement of foreign
technology
Adoption of non-turnkey
approach
– In 1976 “Machinery Localization Policy”
was issued by the government.
• “To increasing the local involvement in the
plants and equipment manufacturing”

– KEPCO divided each nuclear project into

sub-projects and include domestic firms
involvement to learn the technology
from foreign firms.
Assimilation of detailed design
technology
– During 4th and 5th plants construction
• KEPCO made a contract with Bechtel Corporation to
acquire architecture engineering knowledge
• During the construction, KOPEC (Korean Power
Engineering Services Company) engineers worked
together with Bechtel engineer for 3 years
– 1978, 28 Korean engineers were sent
to be trained at Bechtel for 3 months
• After return, they participated in various
design works and mastered their design skill
and pass on their know-how into
organization level.
– To prepare for 6th and 7th, KOPEC sent 42
engineers to Belgatom company in
Belgium to create the knowledge base in
1979.
– During 6th and 7th plants construction
• KOPEC sent 58 engineers to Bechtel
(including the engineers that were sent to
Belgatom)
• Some detailed design work was done by
Korean engineers
• The experience of these engineers are
documented to prepare for the next project
 Localization Rate of Nuclear Power Plants(Percent)

80
70
60
Percent

50
40
30
20
10
0
Plant 1 Plant 2 Plant 3 Plant Plant Plant Plant
4,5 6,7 8,9 10

Architecture Engineering Equipment

Assembly of Equipment
• 1980 Korea Heavy Industry and Construction became
the only manufacturer of power generation equipment
– KHIC becomes subcontractor of foreign suppliers for constriction of
6th and 7th plants in minor equipment assembling
– For 8th and 9th plants , KHIC participated in major assembling
works (KHIC does not have technology to manufacture parts yet)

• 1978 Some components were selected to be reverse

engineered and manufactured by domestic technology
– Prototypes and End Products were successfully manufactured
 Summary of this stage
• Domestics firms had some involvements in
construction.
• Engineers were sent to train with foreign firms.
• Some of the designs of the plants were made by
Korean engineers.
• Korean company was responsible for minor assembly,
and major assembly later.
• Plants parts were reverse-engineered.
• Parts of the plants were successfully manufactured.
 Evolution of nuclear power
program in Korea
Stage 1 : Preparation
Stage 2 : Implementation of Foreign
technology
Stage 3 : Acquisition of peripheral
technology
Stage 4 : Acquisition of core technology
Stage 5 : Improvement of foreign
technology
National Innovation System
1. Nuclear Policy was successfully integrated with the technology
development policy.
2. The Government Amendment on “The Promotion Law of
Technical Engineering Service”.
A local engineering service firm must be a prime contractor in any case of
engineering project ordered by a domestic client. While any foreign
firm need government approval to be a prime contractor.
2. The Government made “ The Master Plan for Technological
Localization of Nuclear Power Plants “. Domestic firm should be
prime contractors in the succeeding nuclear reactor project.
3. Plan to enhance the technological level from 60% to 95% level
of foreign technology until 1995.
4. Under the initiative of KEPCO, Electric Power Group Corporation
Council (EPGCC) composed of related firms and research
institutes.
 Technology Diffusion
1. Measures for upgrading the technological level
are as follow :
1. International technology transfer
2. Indigenous R&D and efforts
3. Learning by doing
 Technology Diffusion
2. Packaged technology transfer based on the contract as
foreign sub-contractor.
3. Acquisition of basic design technology
– Select Sargent and Lundy (S and L) as foreign donor for the technological knowledge
of basic design and to conduct A-E works together.
– Sent 100 engineer to participated in conceptual design process with S&L in
America.
– More knowledge assimilation of the KOPEC and S&L in Korea.
– Diffusing the knowledge to other Korean while conducting detail design and other
related works. (training of KOPEC engineers, the application of the transferred
software, the preparation of technical standard specification and guidelines, in-house
R&D to improve the imported technologies). Converting the transferred explicit
knowledge into tacit knowledge.
– KOPEC engineers participated in the whole process of A-E works in the 10th and 11th
nuclear projects with the same level of responsibility as those of S&L.
 Technology Diffusion
4. Acquisition of NSSS (Nuclear Steam Supply System) design
technology
– Contract with Combustion Engineering (CE) as a foreign partner for
NSSS.
– CE transferred ‘packaged’ technology with a set of explicit knowledge.
– Training of KAERI engineers at Seoul and CE sites
– Joint work on NSSS design at the ratio of one to one.
– Participating in CE’s on-going R&D projects
– 51 KAERI Researchers lived together in an apartment near CE for 1.5
years, kept a record of what are they learning during the time, and
had a group reviews all the time.
– Internalization the NSSS technology at KAERI : training program for
simulated design and repeated design work, in-house R&D.
– KAERI spend 53% of KEPCO’s total R&D expenditures during the
project period to convert explicit design knowledge into tacit
knowledge.
 Stage 4 Resume
• National initiative  “Master Plan for
Technological localization”
• Good contract deal to absorb ‘explicit
knowledge’ taking advantage of the low
market demand on nuclear project.
• Excellent process to build tacit
knowledge from the explicit knowledge.
 Evolution of nuclear power
program in Korea
Stage 1 : Preparation
Stage 2 : Implementation of Foreign
technology
Stage 3 : Acquisition of peripheral
technology
Stage 4 : Acquisition of core technology
Stage 5 : Improvement of foreign
technology
 Development of the Korean Standard
Nuclear Power Plant.
• Having explicit and tacit knowledge also experience
on building nuclear reactor.
• Next Korean’s target is to construct a nuclear power
plant in a complete indigeneous technological
capability called Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant
(KSNPP).
• The design improvement :
– Developed based on Korean Geological situations
– Improved safety, efficiency, and convenience in operation
and maintenance.
 Exporting KS-NPP

President Lee MyungBak shaking

hands with his UAE counterpart after
the nuclear reactor export was
decided.

e-clipping from The New York

Times
 Conclusion
• Korea had succesfully done a technological localization
strategy in developing its own nuclear power industry.
• The process has been progressed through preparation,
implementation of foreign technology, acquisition of
peripheral and core technology, finally improvement of
foreign technology.
• The above process have shown a good and systematic
technological learning in absorbing foreign technology
and finally have its own technology standard.
• The Korean’s strategy might be very useful for other
Less Developed Country in developing nuclear power
industry or other industries.