This photo, provided by South Korea’s industry ministry on April 28, 2023, shows the energy ministers of South Korea and the United States holding a meeting in Washington the previous day.
SEOUL, April 28 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has called on the United States to make joint efforts to resolve a legal dispute between their companies over Seoul’s potential nuclear reactor exports to the Czech Republic and other nations, the industry ministry said Friday.
Industry Ministry Lee Chang-yang made the request during a meeting with his U.S. counterpart, Jennifer Granholm, in Washington on Thursday (local time) on the sidelines of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
In October last year, the U.S.’ Westinghouse Electric Co. filed a lawsuit against South Korea’s Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) for an alleged intellectual property infringement, claiming that South Korean firms need U.S. government consent to export an APR1400 nuclear reactor as it is created based on its technology.
“The South Korean and the U.S. governments need to make joint efforts to swiftly resolve the legal dispute between the nuclear energy companies of the two nations, as the global dependence on nuclear energy has risen recently in the face of an energy supply crisis,” Lee said during the meeting.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) rejected a filing by KHNP regarding its bid for a nuclear reactor construction project in the Czech Republic, according to officials.
In a response to the KHNP’s letter, the DOE said that any such letters “must be submitted by U.S. persons” under its regulations, indicating that its cooperation with Westinghouse is a must, which sparked concerns that the potential exports of nuclear reactors could fall apart due to the ongoing litigation.
The joint statement, issued after the summit between Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden, said that the two nations mutually respect “each other’s export control regulations and intellectual property rights” regarding nuclear energy issues.
Despite the issue, the two ministers on Thursday agreed to boost cooperation in the nuclear energy sector, including the manufacturing, operation and management of small modular reactors (SMRs) and their export, as well as a more resilient nuclear supply chain, the ministry said.
The two sides also agreed to launch the Energy Policy Dialogue to boost cooperation on the development of hydrogen, renewable and other clean energy, and to jointly cooperate on energy security to achieve their net-zero goals.
Lee stressed the need for stronger ties regarding supply chains of key minerals by maximizing the U.S.-led Mineral Security Partnership, and asked for Washington’s attention to South Korean energy companies operating in the U.S. as they seek tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, the ministry said.
(Yonhap)
