Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun speaks to the parliamentary committee on trade and industry at the National Assembly in western Seoul on April 9, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is on course to conclude negotiations for a project to build a nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic, Seoul’s industry minister said Wednesday, as the final agreement for the highly anticipated project is being delayed.
“We have completed documentations for the project, and local procedures, such as a legal review and board meetings, are currently under way,” Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun told the parliamentary committee on industry and trade.
“We hope to finalize the agreement in late April or early May at the latest,” he added.
A South Korean consortium, led by the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP), was selected as the preferred bidder in July 2024 to build two reactors at the Dukovany power plant in the East European country.
If finalized, the deal, estimated at 24 trillion won (US$16.7 billion), would mark South Korea’s first overseas nuclear power plant project since 2009, when KHNP won the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant contract in the United Arab Emirates.
The consortium had initially aimed to strike a final deal on the project by the end of March.
Meanwhile, Ahn said the government is also working to resolve Seoul’s designation as a “sensitive” country by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), set to take effect Tuesday.
In early January, the DOE placed South Korea in the “lowest” category of its “sensitive and other designated countries list,” reportedly due to technical security issues.
The listing has sparked concerns it may hinder bilateral technology cooperation between Seoul and Washington.
In a recent meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the two sides agreed on the need for bilateral cooperation in the nuclear power plant sector, Ahn said.
Ahn met with Wright in Washington last month to discuss the “sensitive” country listing issue and energy cooperation.
(Yonhap)
