UAE Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1~4

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Establishment of KSNP(Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant) System 'OPR1000' (Optimized Power Reactor 1000MW), which was built to expand Korean nuclear power plants(NPP) overseas, upgraded its performance to 'Improved OPR1000' through Shin-Kori Units 1 and 2. The ‘Improved OPR1000’ was the best version of Korea’s 2nd generation nuclear power plant incorporating a total of 97 improvements, including the upper structure and complex building of the integral reactor. Safety and economic efficiency were further enhanced compared to the previous generations, and new methods such as synthetic structure construction and automatic welding of reactor coolant piping were applied for the first time. In particular, upon drawing lessons from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, emergency cooling water injection pipes, emergency power sources, and passive hydrogen removal devices were introduced to further improve safety In the early 1990s, Korea, which achieved its independence in nuclear power plant technology through Hanbit Units 3 and 4, laid the foundation for the KSNP(Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant) and developed it into the ‘Improved OPR1000’, succeeded in developing the more advanced 3rd generation nuclear power plant or ‘APR1400(Advanced Power Reactor 1400)’ in 2002. The APR1400 had a capacity of 1400MW, up 40% from the OPR1000's 1000MW, but drew more attention for its superior economic efficiency and safety.Barakah NPP: Successful NPP Export to UAEAttempts to export South Korea's NPP technology, which began with the development of OPR1000, became more active with the development of APR1400 and resulted in Korea’s first nuclear power plant export in December 2009.The UAE government expected the nation’s demand for electricity to rise to 40,000 MW by 2020 and planned to build a large nuclear power plant in Barakah, west of its capital, Abu Dhabi. KEPCO Consortium, consisting of electric power companies such as Korea Electric Power Co., Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., and partner companies such as Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., was selected as the operator of the $20 billion large nuclear power plant construction project ordered by ENEC (Emirate Nuclear Energy Co.) after a fierce competition against France, the U.S. and Japan. The project made Korea to rank the world's fifth nuclear power plant technology exporter and sixth nuclear power plant exporter.The size of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, which is 8km wide and 1.8km long, is four times the size of Yeouido in Korea, and the upper dome of the reactor building reminiscent of the Islamic mosque, exceeds 80m in height, similar to that of a 30-story apartment. Moreover, two 1,600-ton tower cranes, the largest in the UAE, were also mobilized.The unprecedented project, in which four units of nuclear power plant were constructed at the same time, involved using a huge amount of materials, including four times the concrete used in Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. In order to ensure safety in the event of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis and missile attacks, 55mm-steel bars, 2.5 times larger in diameter than the 22mm common ones, were used. The manpower involved was also impressive. More than 20,000 global workers from all over Asia, including 1,400 Koreans including from partner companies, participated. On the site, people even joked that the BNPP, which stands for Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, actually is an acronym for third-party participating countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines, and Pakistan.The Baraka Nuclear Power Plant held a ground breaking ceremony on March 14, 2011, joined by the leaders of both South Korea and the UAE and completed the installation of the first reactor in May 2014. Moving on, Hyundai E&C plans to complete the construction of four units of nuclear power plant by 2023.

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