[The Future of Nuclear Power①] 200 Trillion Won 'Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning' Market... Advanced Technology Dominance Could Enable Export Industry

KHNP's 'Super Gap' Challenge... Introducing 'Digital Twin' in Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning
207 Permanently Shut Down Reactors... Decommissioning Market to Grow to 204 Trillion Won by 2050
World's First Adoption of 4th Industrial Revolution Technology... Potential to Lead Global Market

Korea's first exported nuclear power plant, Barakah Unit 3 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
[Photo by Korea Electric Power Corporation]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] The dismantling of Wolseong Unit 1 using digital twin technology is regarded as a ‘challenge to secure a super-gap’ by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP). There has been no case yet of nuclear power plants being dismantled using Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as digital twins. If KHNP succeeds in dismantling Wolseong Unit 1 with digital twin technology, it can establish itself as an international standard case and also preempt the advanced technology market for nuclear power plant dismantling.

The nuclear power plant dismantling market is currently in its budding stage. Global consulting firm Deloitte analyzed that the nuclear dismantling market will go through a budding phase until 2029 and will grow substantially from 2030 onward. The global nuclear dismantling market is expected to reach 204 trillion KRW from 2031 to 2050. There is also an outlook that nuclear dismantling technology will form a market worth a total of 549 trillion KRW over the next 100 years starting from 2017.

Although 207 nuclear power plants worldwide have already been permanently shut down, the fact that there is no dominant leader monopolizing the dismantling market is also an attractive point. Among nuclear power countries, only four? the United States, Japan, Germany, and Switzerland?have experience in dismantling. Moreover, these countries dismantled nuclear plants using the traditional method of sending workers inside the reactor. If KHNP independently secures know-how for nuclear dismantling applying Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, it can become a key driving force to preempt the dismantling market worth 200 trillion KRW in the future.

The First Heavy Water Reactor Dismantling Case... Potential Export to Canada

In particular, the dismantling of Wolseong Unit 1 is the world’s first case of dismantling a heavy water reactor nuclear power plant. Canada, the pioneer country of heavy water reactors, has shut down some of its nuclear plants but has chosen a ‘deferred dismantling’ method and has not actually started dismantling work. Deferred dismantling is a method of maintaining and managing the nuclear plant until the radiation levels inside the plant naturally decrease below a certain level before dismantling. Unlike the ‘immediate dismantling’ method adopted by most nuclear countries including Korea, it has the advantage of reducing the possibility of worker exposure. However, while the immediate dismantling period is around 15 years, deferred dismantling takes 40 to 60 years. Considering this schedule, Canada will only begin dismantling its nuclear plants after the dismantling work of Wolseong Unit 1 is completed.

If KHNP succeeds in dismantling Wolseong Unit 1 using digital twin technology, it is also highly evaluated that there is a possibility of exporting the technology to Canada. In fact, KHNP is said to have been working on securing digital twin dismantling technology with an eye on heavy water reactor countries such as Canada and Argentina, as well as domestic nuclear plants. If KHNP succeeds in digital twin dismantling of Gori Unit 1, a light water reactor, following Wolseong Unit 1, all nuclear countries worldwide will become potential export targets.

Impact on Continued Operation... Promoting ‘Unmanned Dismantling’

The nuclear policy of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration is cited as another background for KHNP’s attempt to introduce digital twin technology. The core of the Yoon administration’s nuclear policy is ‘continued operation,’ which extends the design life of aging nuclear plants. The previous administration planned to halt the operation of aging nuclear plants one after another under the ‘nuclear phase-out’ policy and to start dismantling in earnest from 2030. However, according to the current government’s policy, there will be a 10 to 20-year gap between dismantling Gori Unit 1 and Wolseong Unit 1 and dismantling other nuclear plants. To avoid wasting the know-how accumulated from dismantling these two plants during this period, KHNP has no choice but to target overseas markets.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power developed the intelligent robot 'Prime' for inspecting seawater pipes used in nuclear power generation.
[Photo by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power]

KHNP is also accelerating technology development for ‘unmanned dismantling’ of nuclear plants using robots. If personnel are not deployed at nuclear dismantling sites, the possibility of radiation exposure can be virtually reduced to ‘zero.’ This is why KHNP started developing an artificial intelligence (AI) robot for monitoring high-radiation zones in February this year. KHNP plans to complete AI robot development around 2023 and deploy it on-site the following year.

The government is also supporting KHNP’s plans by actively establishing a Nuclear Dismantling Research Institute. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to start construction of the Nuclear Dismantling Research Institute at the boundary area between Ulsan and Busan by the end of next month and complete it by the second half of 2025. The institute will house about 240 nuclear dismantling research and development (R&D) equipment, including decontamination performance evaluation and analysis devices. The Heavy Water Reactor Dismantling Technology Institute, a branch of the Nuclear Dismantling Research Institute, will secure a site in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk, and begin construction in the second half of next year. The Nuclear Dismantling Research Institute plans to secure about 100 research personnel and start full-scale operation from 2026.

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