Overseas nuclear project and hydrogen safety meetings held

Economy

Published: 08 Jun. 2022, 17:37

Overseas nuclear project and hydrogen safety meetings held

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang, left, holds a meteting with UAE's Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company CEO Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber at Lotte Hotel in Seoul on Wednesday. [MINISTRY OF TRADE INDUSTRY AND ENERGY]

The Yoon Suk-yeol government is focusing on nuclear and hydrogen energy.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a meeting to discuss overseas nuclear power projects and hydrogen safety management.

The meeting on nuclear energy was led by the ministry's nuclear industry policy department and attended by the Finance Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.

State-owned energy companies, including Korea Electric Power Corp., Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and Korea Plant Service & Engineering, and export-related institutions, such as the Korea Development Bank, Korea Exim Bank, Korea Trade Insurance Corp. and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, also attended.

The government plans to create a team that will exclusively work on overseas nuclear energy projects. The team will also include representatives of private companies.

The meeting of nuclear-power-related government departments and institutions was held on the same day that the top executives of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Westinghouse, including CEO Patrick Fragman, were in Seoul on a two-day visit.

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden and Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol agreed to expand cooperation between the two countries in terms of nuclear power projects.

Korea is currently bidding on nuclear projects in Saudi Arabia, Poland the Czech Republic.

The Yoon government is targeting 10 overseas nuclear power projects by 2030.

Korea signed a nuclear power deal in 2009 in the United Arab Emirates.

Odds of new deals are increasing as Russia, a major contender for projects, is hampered by the war in Ukraine and international sanctions.

Also on Wednesday, the Korean ministry held its first policy committee meeting on hydrogen safety management.

The committee has 14 members from the government, academia and the private sector, including Doosan Fuel Cell, which specializes in fuel cells.

The meeting was held to discuss creating a safety manual related to hydrogen as an energy, from production through storage and distribution to utilization, including batteries, charging and hydrogen power plants.

The goal is to create a comprehensive safety management plan by November.

"As hydrogen production has become diverse, there is growing demand to set up related infrastructure that will distribute hydrogen," said Yang Byeong-nae, head of the ministry's hydrogen economy policy department, who is also heading the committee. "And as such, there is a need for a safety management plan related to new hydrogen technology."

On Wednesday, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang met with UAE's Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company CEO Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber at Lotte Hotel in Seoul where they discussed expanding cooperation on energy.

According to the Korean ministry, the ministers agreed on the importance of ensuring the resilience of the global energy network.

The UAE is the fifth-largest supplier of crude, accounting for 7.9 percent of the world's total in 2021, and fourth-largest supplier of LPG, accounting for 0.9 percent.

The two governments have also agreed to expand cooperation on developing and commercializing hydrogen energy especially using renewables such as solar energy.

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