By Yi Whan-woo
Daewoo Engineering & Construction (E&C), the country’s third-largest builder, is stepping up its efforts to enhance its performance as a global nuclear reactor designer.
The company won a contract offered by the state-run Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) in April to design and engineer a 20 megawatt nuclear reactor to produce isotopes. The radioactive materials were imported in the past for cancer therapies and other medical treatments.
The reactor in Gijang, South Gyeongsang Province, is expected to give a stable supply of the isotopes and boost exports of such radioactive materials, according to the company.
“We’d say we have set up a cornerstone in exporting isotopes for medical purposes,” Daewoo E&C said in a press release.
It said it will be in charge of the overall engineering process of the reactor and related facilities. Its achievement comes after it became the first Korean construction company in 2009 to engineer a comprehensive design of a nuclear reactor in Jordan for research purposes.
The Middle East country awarded the contract for its engineering, procurement and construction project that allows Daewoo E&C to handle the entire process of building the nuclear energy facility.
The four-year project that started in April is worth 18.6 billion won ($16.7 million) and Daewoo E&C has already completed 43 percent of the process.
“KAERI highly valued our strength to compete in the global market,” a Daewoo E&C spokesman said.
The company plans to bid for another government project for two nuclear reactors in Gori, a region near Busan where concerns over nuclear safety have risen.
“The criteria for a successful bid will be the capability to engineer, which was not common in the past, and we believe we have an edge over our competitors in such aspects,” the firm said.
Daewoo E&C is the country’s only builder certified by Korea Hydro and Nuclear Nuclear Power, the state-run operator of nuclear power plants, to engineer such facilities. The firm now plans to win the American Society of Mechanical Engineers N Stamp, a certification widely recognized in many countries for the construction of nuclear energy facilities.