한국전력기술

- Holds a ceremony to ship the last part of the CIS -



The consortium of KEPCO E&C and the National Fusion Research Institute held a ceremony at Mobis Co. in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, on 6 March to deliver the last part of the Central Interlock System (CIS) for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) under construction in Cadarache, France.

The CIS, which will be put into the main control center building of the ITER, plays the role of the human brain that controls the nervous system in the body. The KEPCO E&C-NFRI consortium won the 11 billion-won contract in 2013 to provide the CIS to the ITER Organization on a turn-key basis.

KEPCO E&C and NFRI have since worked to develop software and other systems for the CIS, with the hardware built by the control system firm Mobis. Mobis is a small, but strong company that has been supplying since 2010 precision control solutions to mega equipment projects in the accelerator and overseas nuclear fusion business. It also participated in a project to develop a precision control system for supplying power to the ITER Tokamak coil.

The partnership with Mobis is part of KEPCO E&C’s efforts to support the government policy of encouraging big companies to have a win-win relationship with small- and medium-sized firms through mutually beneficial cooperation.

It is meaningful therefore that the feat of the CIS obtaining the ITER Organization’s quality endorsement was achieved on the strength of KEPCO E&C’s technical support for small companies in earthquake-resistance test upholding the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and ITER Organization standards, Conformité Européenne (CE) marking, and electromagnetic compatibility test.

Jin Tae-eun, head of the Nuclear Division, said, “The successful shipment of the CIS is significant in that the ITER Organization recognized the Korean nuclear industry’s technological competitiveness and product quality for not only hardware but also software.”

Jung Ki-jung, director general of ITER Korea, said, “The shipment of the CIS is regarded as an example of excellent cooperation between local nuclear fusion researchers and industry officials. NFRI will continue to provide strong support for KEPCO E&C and other local companies with competitiveness to expand their participation in ITER projects.”