Ulsan and Busan Collaborate to Train Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning Experts... Selected for 'Regional Energy Cluster Talent Development Project'

72 Billion KRW from National and City Budgets Invested to Fully Launch Training of Nuclear Power and Nuclear Decommissioning Specialists

Business Promotion System Chart.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Ulsan City and Busan City will jointly train specialized personnel in nuclear power and nuclear power plant dismantling.

Ulsan City (Mayor Song Cheol-ho) announced on the 27th that the "Ulsan-Busan Regional Energy Cluster Talent Development Project," jointly promoted with Busan City (Mayor Park Hyung-joon), has been finally selected for the national public contest project "Regional Energy Cluster Talent Development" hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Accordingly, Busan City and Ulsan City will invest a total of 7.2 billion KRW (4.75 billion KRW national funds, 2.375 billion KRW local funds) over five years from this year until 2025 to foster manpower centered on the nuclear power industry in the Ulsan-Busan region.

The leading institutions include Ulsan Technopark, Korea Electric Power International Nuclear Graduate School (KINGS), Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Pusan National University, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, and four universities, along with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and regional small and medium-sized enterprises.

Ulsan Technopark, the leading institution, will be responsible for overall project operation and management, the manpower development operation committee, and industry-academia-research forums. Participating universities will design and operate specialized education programs considering each university's expertise, train high-level personnel at the master's and doctoral levels, and run short-term education linked to industry-academia field practice.

Additionally, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power will provide on-site nuclear power plant training facilities, and participating companies such as Orion ENC, Taeung Co., Ltd., and Seongdo Construction Industry will conduct joint industry-academia research projects with participating universities to solve technical difficulties.

This project is expected to meet the demand in the domestic nuclear power plant dismantling industry, which lacks specialized personnel. It also anticipates fostering excellent experts in promising future nuclear power industry fields such as nuclear safety and small modular reactors.

Park Hyung-joon, Mayor of Busan City, said, "We plan to nurture professionals equipped with knowledge and field experience who can lead the nuclear power plant dismantling industry, improve self-reliance in dismantling technology, and solve difficulties faced by local small and medium-sized enterprises to promote the development of the nuclear power industry."

Song Cheol-ho, Mayor of Ulsan City, said, "The nuclear power plant dismantling industry is a future blue ocean and a project that must be focused on for Ulsan City's new growth engine. Through training high-level talent, we will secure core technologies in nuclear power and nuclear power plant dismantling and develop global technological competitiveness so that the nuclear power industry and energy development can globalize."

Ulsan City and Busan City jointly attracted the Nuclear Power Plant Dismantling Research Institute in 2019 and were designated as an energy industry convergence complex focusing on nuclear power and nuclear power plant dismantling industries by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in August last year.

The two cities are planning a new corporate support project to nurture strong local nuclear power plant dismantling companies and support the industrial ecosystem following the manpower development project.

The Southeast Regional Nuclear Power Plant Dismantling Research Institute, to be built on the boundary between Jangan-eup, Gijang-gun, Busan, and Seosaeng-myeon, Ulju-gun, Ulsan, is scheduled to be completed in 2024.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.