KHNP, Southern to cooperate on nuclear engineering

Under the agreement - signed at KHNP's headquarters in Gyeongju in South Korea - both companies plan to strengthen their partnership by operating technology exchange programmes, holding workshops, and sharing best practices to enhance practical engineering capabilities and improve operational performance.

"This agreement was established to build a cooperation system covering nuclear power plant operation, facility maintenance, facility reliability, and overall engineering," KHNP said. 

The company said that Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) - its parent company - "plans to take its facility reliability-centred operation system, which has been under way since the transition to an 'engineering system' in December 2023, to the next level through this cooperation".

"This agreement is expected to serve as an opportunity for KHNP engineers to expand their horizons globally and provide a growth chance for the domestic engineering system to take a leap forward," said Kim Young-seung, Head of KHNP's Engineering Division. "We will continue to do our utmost to complete the Korean-style engineering system through close cooperation with overseas operators and international organisations."

KHNP operates 26 nuclear power reactors with a combined generating capacity of 25,609 MWe, which generate almost one-third of South Korea's electricity.

Southern Nuclear - a subsidiary of Southern Company - operates more than 8,200 MWe of nuclear generating capacity across eight units at the Farley plant in Alabama and the Hatch and Vogtle plants in Georgia.