Korea, Poland Nuclear Power Plant Contract 'Green Light'... Expecting '40 Trillion+α' Jackpot After 13 Years

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] South Korea and Poland signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and a Letter of Intent (LOI) for cooperation on a new nuclear power plant construction project on the 31st. The export path for the Korean-designed next-generation nuclear power plant, APR1400, has opened for the first time in 13 years. Following the 2009 contract for the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), this marks the first export of a Korean-designed nuclear power plant to a European country.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that on the same day, at The Plaza in Jung-gu, Seoul, Minister Lee Chang-yang of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Jacek Sasin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State Assets of Poland, attended the signing of an MOU related to the development plan for a nuclear power plant in the Pomtuf region of Poland. The agreement includes support from both countries for the nuclear cooperation of the Pomtuf project, which Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) is promoting with Poland’s private power company ZEPAK and the Polish Power Grid Company (PGE), with regular information sharing and expanded cooperation. Following the MOU signing ceremony, KHNP President Hwang Ju-ho exchanged a Letter of Intent on the related project with Zygmunt Solarz, Chairman of ZEPAK, and Wojciech Dombrowski, President of PGE.

The core of the agreement is that the three companies?KHNP, ZEPAK, and PGE?will build a nuclear power plant based on APR1400 technology in the Pomtuf region, located 240 km west of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The existing coal-fired power plant operating in Pomtuf will be dismantled and replaced with a new nuclear power plant. This project is newly promoted by private companies to complement the Polish government’s existing nuclear plan included in Poland’s Energy Policy 2040. While the Polish government-led project to build six pressurized water reactors (PWRs) with a capacity of 6 to 9 GW was recently awarded to the U.S. company Westinghouse, the private-led separate project has allowed KHNP to secure a favorable position in the contract.

Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) previously won a project in December 2009 to build four APR1400 reactors (total generation capacity of 5,600 MW) in the Barakah region west of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. KEPCO began construction of the Barakah nuclear power plant in July 2012, and commercial operations started for Units 1 and 2 in April last year and March this year, respectively. Units 3 and 4 are scheduled to begin commercial operations next year and in 2024, respectively.

Park Il-jun, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said at a meeting with reporters at the Government Complex Sejong on the same day, "We plan to build 2 to 4 Korean-designed nuclear reactors (one unit with a capacity of 1400 MW) in Pomtuf, Poland," adding, "The word APR1400 is explicitly stated in the agreement between the two countries, and with the visit of the Polish Deputy Prime Minister, this project is effectively the export of the Korean next-generation nuclear power plant for the first time in 13 years."

This is the second nuclear power project achievement following the participation in the approximately 3 trillion won Egypt El-Dabaa nuclear power plant project immediately after the inauguration of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. The El-Dabaa nuclear power project was awarded in 2017 by ASE JSC (Russia) from the Egyptian Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) to build four 1200 MW (megawatt) class nuclear reactors (VVER-1200) in El-Dabaa, located 300 km northwest of Cairo.

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