"Delay in Nuclear Power Plant Construction Due to Defective Parts"… Supreme Court Rules "Not Recognized"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has ruled that it cannot acknowledge Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power's claim that the construction of Shin-Kori Units 3 and 4 was delayed due to the supply of defective parts, resulting in losses worth billions of won.

The Supreme Court's Third Division (Presiding Justice Min Yusook) announced on the 16th that it upheld the appellate court's ruling partially favoring the plaintiff in the damages lawsuit filed by KHNP against JS Cable & System and others. Accordingly, the amount that the companies supplying defective parts to Shin-Kori Units 3 and 4 must compensate KHNP was finalized at 13.5 billion won.

In 2013, JS Cable & System colluded with domestic testing firms such as Saehan TEP to falsify test reports and supplied defective cables to KHNP. As a result, cable replacement work was carried out at Shin-Kori Units 3 and 4, which were under construction at the time.

Due to this incident, JS Cable & System advisor Eom was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and other related parties were punished. KHNP filed a damages lawsuit worth around 400 billion won against the companies and individuals involved.

The first trial court recognized damages claimed by KHNP, including costs for cable retesting, purchasing substitute cables, and cable replacement construction costs. However, it rejected the claim that the supply of defective parts caused construction delays at Shin-Kori Units 3 and 4, resulting in approximately 320 billion won in additional construction costs and operational losses.

The court stated, "Shin-Kori Units 3 and 4 were power plants under construction, not in operation, and even after the cable replacement work, defects in other parts were discovered, causing construction delays," adding, "It is difficult to recognize a causal relationship between the supply of defective cables and the damages from construction delays."

The amount the companies must compensate was also significantly reduced. The court recognized about 100 billion won of KHNP's claimed damages but ruled that only 13.5 billion won should be paid by the defective parts suppliers and related parties.

KHNP appealed, arguing that the case involved "intentional illegal acts" and thus was not subject to the liability limitations stipulated in the supply contracts. However, the appellate court dismissed the appeal, stating that regardless of intent, the scope of liability is limited to the total contract amount.

KHNP further appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming that the cable replacement delayed the construction of Shin-Kori Units 3 and 4, causing damages. However, the Supreme Court dismissed all claims, stating that it is difficult to establish causality.

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