Hanbit Nuclear Power Plants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

Hanbit Nuclear Power Plants 1~6 (formerly Yeonggwang Nuclear Power Plant), located in Yeonggwang-gun, Jeollanam-do Province, are nuclear power plants that Hyundai E&C constructed for 20 years, and these are in charge of 6% (as of 2022) of the total power generated in Korea. Hanbit Nuclear Power Plants 1 and 2 also went through the split order method, similar to Gori Nuclear Power Plants 3 and 4, and the equipment capacity were each 950MW. In the construction of Hanbit Nuclear Power Plants 1 and 2, Hyundai E&C  expanded its scope of applying the domestic technology to electricity and machineries in addition to the civil works and construction engineering. 

Hanbit Nuclear Power Plants 3 and 4 were constructed solely by the technical team in Korea. Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) selected Korean companies as the main contractors in each area to build the foundation for technology independence in nuclear power plants, and changed the system so that overseas companies would participate as the subcontractor of the Korean main contractors. In addition, through designated bidding, Hyundai E&C was selected as the sole construction company for Hanbit Nuclear Power Plants 3 and 4 in November, 1987. This was the moment when the persistent effort of Hyundai E&C, such as establishing a technologically cooperative relationship with overseas leaders early on and establishing a dedicated team to be certified for ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), which is a must to carry out overseas nuclear power plant projects, finally came to bear fruit. 

Hanbit Nuclear Power Plants 3 and 4, in which design and construction were carried out simultaneously, entered into the last stage of the nuclear reactor construction, the construction to install the nuclear reactor, in December 1991, after starting construction in December 1989.  Hyundai E&C succeeded in making the first attempt on a new method of inserting the nuclear reactor into the containment building through the equipment entrance after lifting the nuclear reactor to the top of the platform that was installed at 14m above ground, instead of using the existing method of installing the nuclear reactor through a temporary exit that is close to ground. Hanbit Nuclear Power Plants 3 and 4 only received support from overseas companies for areas in which Hyundai E&C’s technology was less mature as the first project that was led by Korea. This became the driver that gave rise to Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant 3 and 4, the first Korean Standardized Nuclear Reactors (KSNR). 

Construction of Hanbit Nuclear Power Plants 5 and 6 was focused on improving items that were identified while constructing and operating the KSNR 1. Hyundai E&C constructed an advanced nuclear power plant based on the technology and experience that were accumulated until now. The contracted construction duration was certainly abided by despite unexpected difficulties such as the Asian Financial Crisis, and furthermore, the performance of the standard Korean-type nuclear power plant was upgraded one step more by enhancing both the economics and the safety of the nuclear power plant.