Korea’s Kepco discussing nuclear project with Turkey

A Barakah nuclear energy plant within the UAE, the primary abroad nuclear venture for Korea Electrical Energy Company [YONHAP]

 
Korea Electrical Energy Company (Kepco) is in discussions with the Turkish authorities a few 40 trillion gained ($30.7 billion) nuclear energy plant venture.
 
Kepco spokesperson stated on Thursday that the 2 events will seemingly start a feasibility examine subsequent yr, after which they might signal an settlement to construct 4 nuclear reactors, every able to offering 1,400 megawatts of electrical energy, within the northern a part of the nation.    
 
Turkey initially contracted with Mitsubishi Shipbuilding to construct the reactors in 2013, however the settlement fell aside as a consequence of differing views on pricing. The Turkish authorities contacted Kepco in April to discover a attainable deal.  
 
The Turkish authorities determined in favor of Korea as a consequence of its expertise of developing nuclear crops in robust environmental circumstances, like a desert, in accordance with native media experiences.  
 
The Barakah nuclear energy plant in United Arab Emirates was in-built Abu Dhabi’s far western desert in 2018. It’s the first and solely nuclear plant that Korea has constructed overseas.
 
The size of the Turkish venture is predicted to be twice that of the UAE’s Barakah venture, in accordance with native media experiences.  
 
New orders had been few and much between after the wining of the Barakah venture, particularly throughout the Moon Jae-in administration, as the previous president declared a phase-out of nuclear energy.  
 
However as Yoon Suk-yeol authorities is emphasizing nuclear energy, a brand new wave of potential nuclear contracts has emerged.  
 
In October, Korea was promised to be the only real bidder for the Patnow nuclear energy plant in Poland.
 
The Patnow venture is a small nuclear power plant being constructed by a Polish power firm. The a lot bigger state-backed Lubiatowo-Kopalino nuclear energy plant was gained by Westinghouse Electrical of the U.S.  
 
Korean and Czech Republic corporations signed a sequence of preliminary agreements associated to nuclear and hydrogen energy, and the governments of the 2 nations mentioned cooperation in these areas, throughout the go to of Korean Minister of Commerce, Trade and Vitality Lee Chang-yang to Prague in June.
 
Korean corporations are competing in opposition to U.S. and French corporations for the contract to construct Czech Republic’s first nuclear energy plant, a 1,200-megawatt venture in Dukovany estimated to price over $6 billion.  
 
Korea can be concentrating on a venture in Saudi Arabia.  
 
In 2018, Mohammed bin Salman introduced Saudi’s nuclear energy plant venture as a part of the dominion’s bold objective of diversifying its power combine and serving to the worldwide battle in opposition to local weather change.  
 
Two nuclear reactors with 1.4 gigawatt capacities are anticipated to be constructed initially, which can regularly improve to 16 by 2040. Competing for the enterprise are Korea, France, China and Russia. Riyadh invited them to make bids in June.
 

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]