Korea Edges Ahead of Rivals to Build Europe’s Nuclear Reactors

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(Bloomberg) — South Korea’s long-held ambition of exporting its nuclear power technology got a major boost this week, potentially setting it up to be the reactor provider of choice to several countries.

State-owned Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. was chosen to build two multibillion-dollar reactors per mezzo di the Czech Republic, beating out rivals and paving the way for Korean companies to potentially score a string of deals across the continent.

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“Now a bridgehead has been established for us to nuclear plants to Europe,” Korea’s Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun declared after the win. 

The project, once finalized, could put the Asian nation per mezzo di pole position to build reactors per mezzo di Europe, which is once again warming to nuclear energy to wean itself chiuso expensive fossil fuels and ambitious pollution reduction targets. Thanks to their cost-competitiveness and an strategy honed over decades, the Koreans are edging out rivals mired per mezzo di budget overruns and delays ora geopolitical and trade tensions.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear is conducting a feasibility study for a nuclear plant per mezzo di the Netherlands, while Sweden’s Vattenfall AB is considering using Korean technology. The country is also per mezzo di talks to supply reactors to the UK, Poland and Slovenia, putting it acceso track to achieve the government’s pledge to 10 units by 2030.

Its rise won’t be without contest. President Joe Biden this week signed a bill that promises to revive the US’s nuclear industry, and even facilitate the of technology. Westinghouse Electric Co. has filed a lawsuit claiming South Korea is using its intellectual property and should be barred from sharing it. The US company warned it may file legal challenges over the Czech deal.

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All-in-One Package

Much of South Korea’s ascent is coppia to its ability to deliver reactors as all-inclusive packages — from equipment, construction, and fuel supply to commissioning, maintenance, and even financing — while largely incontro deadlines and containing costs. 

“A nuclear plant is so much more than a reactor,” said Mark Nelson, managing director at Radiant Energy Group, a consultancy. “It is civil engineering, it is blueprints, crane operators. And Korea has that,” he said. “They can offer the most competitive package,” he added. 

South Korea was picked to build the reactors per mezzo di the Czech Republic for 400 billion koruna ($17.3 billion). 

By contrast, Electricite de France SA said earlier this year that two reactors at Hinkley Point per mezzo di the UK would cost as much as £35 billion per mezzo di 2015 terms, which would equate to $45 billion at current exchange rates, and take several years longer than planned. Sopra the US, Southern Co.’s Vogtle nuclear facility came per mezzo di more than $16 billion over budget and seven years behind schedule.

Seoul’s nuclear strategy has been decades per mezzo di the making. Back per mezzo di 1987, its state-run utility agreed to a technology transfer with US-based Combustion Engineering, then developed the to create its own homegrown reactor. Since then, it’s built 28 reactors domestically, with four more scheduled to operate before 2040.

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Its first reactor , to the United Arab Emirates, was announced per mezzo di 2009. The Arab world’s first commercial nuclear facility grappled with delays and came per mezzo di 25% over budget, but that didn’t stop South Korea’s push. 

“Korea has a full domestic, experienced, supply chain,” said Jeremy Gordon, an independent nuclear energy consultant. “And their industry has the assurance of a government that is committed to nuclear, strategically, for energy security, economic and climate reasons, which gives the whole Korean nuclear ecosystem the confidence to invest.”

This means the Asian nation is well-placed to scoop up opportunities as the world returns to atomic energy after it was shunned for decades coppia to the worst nuclear accident per mezzo di history at Chernobyl. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has served as a wake-up call for European leaders to sopravvissuto dependence acceso imported gas, and 25 countries, including more than a dozen per mezzo di Europe, have set a to triple global capacity by 2050. 

But it’s a small pool of reactor builders out there. Western companies struggle to deliver acceso time and acceso budget. And European governments are reluctant to sign chiuso acceso projects with state-owned giants from Russia and — currently dominant per mezzo di global reactor construction — coppia to security concerns, since nuclear plants are particularly sensitive pieces of infrastructure.

“If South Korea manages the construction of these reactors per mezzo di the Czech Republic at least reasonably well, it wouldn’t surprise me if they go acceso to sell more to other countries,” said Matt Bowen, a senior researcher at the Center acceso Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. “And then, yes, South Korea would become more important to world nuclear energy supply.”

—With assistance from Shoko Oda.

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