First Nuclear Power Export Deal... "Pushing Forward with Saudi Arabia and Europe Orders"

KEPCO Successfully Loads Fuel for UAE Barakah Unit 1
Expecting a Foothold in Large Markets After Winning Saudi Nuclear Power Contract

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] South Korea's nuclear power plants have fired the first signal for exports. There are also expectations that after establishing a foothold in the Middle East, full efforts will be made to secure orders in Europe and other regions.

On the 10th, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) announced that it successfully completed the fuel loading for the operation of Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Nawah, the UAE nuclear power plant operating company established as a joint venture between the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and KEPCO, obtained its operating license on the 17th of last month, completed fuel loading for Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, and began full-scale preparations for operation.

As the first Arab country to load nuclear fuel and operate a nuclear power plant in the UAE, it is expected to contribute to the stable power supply in the UAE in the future. KEPCO stated that it plans to devote its capabilities to operating the subsequent units 2, 3, and 4 in the UAE.

The nuclear industry is paying attention to whether this achievement will serve as a catalyst for exporting 1.4GW-class nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia, with a project cost of at least 12 billion USD (approximately 14.424 trillion KRW). There is a consensus that the experience gained from building nuclear power plants in the desert UAE can be effectively leveraged.

KEPCO also attributed significance to this achievement, saying it "laid the foundation for firmly establishing a second overseas nuclear power plant order base." This reflects confidence that by proving the excellence of Korea's nuclear technology and construction capabilities to the world, it can accelerate the competition for orders in the Middle East and Europe. U.S. nuclear power companies, including Westinghouse, are evaluated as unlikely to easily win the Saudi nuclear power plant orders due to financial and construction capabilities.

The Saudi government has listed domestic companies such as KEPCO as preliminary bidders alongside Westinghouse, Russia's Rosatom, France's EDF (Areva), and China's CGN. The industry believes that negotiations with the U.S. are necessary for exporting nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia.

This is based on the fact that the U.S. can persuade Saudi Arabia, which wants to become a nuclear-armed state, by proposing the relaxation of nuclear agreements to allow uranium enrichment, and that from the U.S. perspective, it is more advantageous to compete for orders with Korea rather than losing them to China or Russia.

In fact, in April 2018, the Korean government negotiated a plan to jointly bid for the Saudi nuclear power plant with Westinghouse in a consortium. Since KEPCO stated in November last year that "Saudi Arabia is expected to select one of the five bidding countries as a preferred negotiation partner by the end of the year according to local circumstances, but delays are also anticipated," no further news has been reported.

Europe is also considered a market for KEPCO's nuclear power plant exports. In the UK, KEPCO was selected as the preferred negotiation partner for acquiring shares of Toshiba, the major shareholder of Newgen (New Generation Consortium), the developer of the Moorside Nuclear Power Plant project worth 15 billion pounds (approximately 21 trillion KRW) in 2017, but lost the qualification after failing to obtain approval from the UK government.

Professor Jeong Yong-hoon of KAIST's Department of Nuclear Engineering said, "The core of economic feasibility evaluation for nuclear power plant exports is whether permits can be obtained on time and construction can be completed. The success in securing the UAE order can act as a sufficiently positive factor in Korea's economic feasibility evaluation in Saudi Arabia," adding, "It should be kept in mind that due to the global trend of low oil prices, the Saudi government may feel financial burdens in promoting large-scale projects."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.