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Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Sung-wook (Yonhap) |
The South Korean Ministry of Industry said on Saturday it would go out of its way to win a nuclear power plant project from the Czech Republic as the European country is open to having Asia’s No. 4 economy as a potential partner.
The remark came after Industry Minister Moon Sung-wook visited the European nation where he met with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Friday (Czech time) to discuss the two countries’ possible cooperation in the nuclear energy segment.
During the meeting, Babis pointed out that South Korean companies should have no hurdles in participating in the bid, compared to those from China or Russia, who, according to the Ministry of Commerce, have concerns about the security risks faced by opposition parties in the Czech Republic. Industry and energy.
The Czech Republic plans to build another reactor in the southern Dukovany region. The official bidding process is scheduled to begin in 2022 and construction is scheduled to begin in 2029.
The ministry said the size of the project is estimated at around 8 trillion won ($ 7 billion). The USA and France are currently also monitoring the project.
Moon also invited Babis to visit South Korea for a tour of the country’s nuclear reactors.
Asia’s No. 4 economy has built 27 nuclear reactors to date, including one in the United Arab Emirates. Seven more are under construction.
In 2009 a South Korean consortium was awarded the contract to build four nuclear reactors in Barakah, 270 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi. The first reactor went into commercial operation in April.
South Korea is striving to penetrate deeper into the overseas nuclear market in line with the search for new demand as it slowly reduces its local reliance on nuclear power plants.
As part of the so-called nuclear phase-out plan, South Korea is to reduce the number of nuclear power plants in operation by 2034 from 24 this year to 17. (Yonhap)
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