Modularization Technology Development and Application for NPP in Korea

The construction period in a Nuclear Power Plant project is one of the most influential factors in determining the competitiveness of the project. In Korea, various methods have been applied to shorten the construction time of NPPs over the past 30 years. Recently, modularization technologies have been developed to shorten the duration dramatically. SC(Steel Plate Concrete) technology has been newly developed to modularize the building structure. SC structure is expected to reduce the construction period drastically by eliminating the formwork which takes lots of time during the construction of the conventional reinforced concrete structure. With the application of SC structure, the bulk commodities such as pipe, cable tray, duct and so forth can be modularized together with the SC structure. This type of module is referred to as ‘Combined Module’. Combined modules are selected on the basis of the density of bulk commodities inside the SC room modules. Another type of module, Equipment Module, also has been considered to facilitate the modularization of NPPs. A mock-up test is planned to evaluate the technical effectiveness of modularization before applying these modules to upcoming construction projects. With the continuous research for modularization and incremental application to upcoming projects, KHNP plans to revolutionize the relevant technologies and achieve a 36 month construction period from first concrete pouring to fuel loading in the future.