한국전력기술

- Expected to bring benefits of replacing imports worth hundreds of millions of won each year with the potential to export the program abroad -
 




KEPCO E&C, in partnership with DDRsoft, succeeded in developing ToSPACE, a pipe wall thinning management program for nuclear power plants.

Pipe wall thinning refers to the phenomenon of pipe wall thickness becoming reduced due to the effects of physical and electrochemical actions on liquids at high pressure, high temperature, and flowing with a high velocity. Thinned pipe walls can result in pipe damage and cause machine breakdown.

As a collaborative project between small and medium enterprises (SME), KEPCO E&C, and DDRsoft have together been developing a pipe wall thinning management program since September, 2012. KEPCO E&C was responsible for the background theory and technological development, while DDRsoft was responsible for the program development. The program, named ToSPACE, was released to the market on the December 28, 2016.

Until now, the Korean nuclear power industry had to rely on a program developed in the United States for maintaining pipe wall thinning in nuclear power plants. But the development of ToSPACE has paved the way for Korean localization.

KEPCO E&C is planning to deploy the program for maintaining pipe wall thinning in nuclear power plants destined for export and in newly constructed nuclear power plants in Korea. Since the program does not have any associated intellectual property issues, it is expected that the program will be used frequently in nuclear power plants constructed in foreign locations and when selling nuclear power plant operating technologies abroad.

Dr. Kyeong-Mo Hwang, who led the development of the program, said, "ToSPACE is a world class level program which combines pipe wall thinning management knowhow with top class IT technology. The development of the program promises to enhance Korea’s nuclear power plant operating and management techniques."

By succeeding in localization, the company expects benefits from replacing imports that could be worth hundreds of millions of won each year, as well as opening the doors for exporting the program.

Furthermore, ToSpace program can also be used for water and steam pipes in nuclear power plants, thermal power plants, cogeneration power plants, and general power plants.