[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Jogwang ILI is showing strong performance. The news of the export of the Korean-type nuclear power plant ARR1400 to Poland appears to be influencing the stock price. This export is recognized for the competitiveness and construction capability of the Korean-type nuclear power plant in Europe, where a nuclear power boom is occurring amid the energy crisis, and it is evaluated that a green light has been turned on for future orders. KEPCO Engineering & Construction and KEPCO Industrial Development surged sharply, increasing interest in related industries.
At 1:01 PM on the 1st, Jogwang ILI was trading at 1,565 won, up 12.59% from the previous day.
Minister Lee Chang-yang of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Jacek Sasin, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State Assets, held a signing ceremony for a Letter of Intent (LOI) for cooperation between companies of the two countries to establish a nuclear power plant development plan in the Pontnuf region of Poland, and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Korean Ministry of Industry and Poland’s Ministry of State Assets at The Plaza Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, the previous day.
This project involves constructing 2 to 4 nuclear reactors with a capacity of 1.4 GW on the site of a coal power plant that ZE PAK, Poland’s largest private power company, will close next year. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Poland’s state-owned power company PGE, and ZE PAK are jointly promoting the project, and the two governments have agreed to strengthen nuclear cooperation. If the construction cost per reactor is estimated at 5 to 7 trillion won, the total order amount is expected to range from at least 10 trillion won to as much as 30 trillion won.
More than 3 million parts go into one domestically produced nuclear reactor (based on APR1400). Although the localization rate reaches 95%, the so-called ‘POSRV’ pilot-operated safety relief valve is entirely dependent on imports. Only the United States, Germany, and France possess the original technology that prevents excessive pressure increase in the reactor cooling system.
Although POSRV is a core component directly related to nuclear power plant safety, maintenance and repair inevitably rely on overseas companies. If a failure occurs, engineers from foreign companies must come directly to Korea, and repairs can sometimes take more than half a year.
At the end of July, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Jogwang ILI, a domestic nuclear power plant parts company, to challenge the localization of POSRV. They also plan to develop POSRV that can be installed in the next-generation Korean small modular reactor (SMR).
Founded in 1968, Jogwang ILI has specialized in manufacturing safety valves for nuclear power plants and plants for the past 54 years. The safety valve field has the longest history domestically. It currently holds the number one market share in the related domestic market. It also has its own design verification infrastructure and has accumulated extensive know-how in safety valves. Thanks to this, it succeeded in localizing the first large safety valve for nuclear power plants in Korea. It also holds the 'ASME certification,' which recognizes technical skills in the safety valve sector from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
The head of Jogwang ILI’s Technology Research Institute recently said in an interview with a media outlet, "We have finally started the long-awaited POSRV localization project in the industry," adding, "We will develop POSRV with better performance than overseas products by 2027."
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