Korea selected to participate in Egypt's nuclear power project

Economy

Published: 02 Jan. 2022, 15:56 Updated: 06 Jan. 2022, 11:02

Korea selected to participate in Egypt's nuclear power project

A rendering of nuclear reactors at El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant in Egypt [KOREA HYDRO & NUCLEAR POWER]

Korea has been selected to participate in the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant project in Egypt, playing a role in the building of that country's first nuclear generator and adding another success in the campaign to promote Korea's relevant technologies and expertise overseas.

El-Dabaa will be Korea's biggest nuclear power export contract since the Barakah nuclear power plant deal in United Arab Emirates (UAE) was signed in 2009.

According to the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) on Sunday, KHNP has been selected as the sole bidder of "turbine islands" for El-Dabaa nuclear power plants.

In the project, four reactors rated at 1.2 gigawatts will be built by Atomstroyexport (ASE), a subsidiary of Moscow's state-owned Rosatom, with financing from the Russian government.

AAEM LLC, a joint venture of Russia's Atomenergomash ISC and General Electric, will supply the main turbine hall equipment for the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant.

KHNP, a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corp., will be contracted to procure equipment and materials and construct the main and auxiliary buildings of the turbine islands.

The two sides will negotiate details of the contract, including the price and terms and conditions, through the end of February before the respective boards give their approval.

KHNP stressed that it will work to expand the scope of its work with the Egyptian companies in the project.

In 2017, ASE won the order from the Egyptian Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) to construct the country's first nuclear power plant. Completion for the first unit is set for 2028, and the total value of the deal is estimated at $30 billion.

KHNP did not disclose the value of its portion of the project.

Korea is the only country with experience in building a nuclear power plant in the Middle East. The commercial operation of Barakah Unit 1 started in April 2021.

Location of El-Dabaa nuclear power plant in Egypt [KOREA HYDRO & NUCLEAR POWER]

The Korea government has been promoting its nuclear project capabilities globally as state-controlled KHNP bids for contracts in the Czech Republic and Poland.

On Nov. 4 during a meeting of the Visegrád, which includes the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, President Moon Jae-in pushed Korea's nuclear offerings.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Sung-wook and KHNP CEO Chung Jae-hoon on Nov. 5 met with Poland's Secretary of State and Plenipotentiary for Strategic Energy Infrastructure Piotr Naimski.

The Korean minister said Korea will be submitting its nuclear reactor plan for the Poland project by March. Since 2018, Poland has been planning the construction of a nuclear power plant to aid in its meeting of EU carbon emissions goals.

Poland plans to build a total of six reactors by 2040.

Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania's Westinghouse Electric and Paris-headquartered Électricité de France are also bidding.

The Czech Republic plans to build a maximum 1.2 gigawatt reactor in Dukovany in a project estimated to cost $7 billion.

KHNP in June last year created a "Team Korea," which includes private companies such as Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction and Daweoo E&C.

With 24 nuclear power plants, Korea is No. 6 globally in terms of the number of nuclear reactors it operates. According to the World Nuclear Association, 443 reactors are operating in 32 countries.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]