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| A nuclear power plant in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province Korea Times file |
By Lee Kyung-min
A group of energy authorities and business executives from Poland signed a letter of intent (LOI) and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with their Korean counterparts, Monday, for cooperation on a construction project for a nuclear power plant in Patnow, central Poland, the energy ministry said.
They are officials of Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE), a state-owned public power firm in Poland, ZE PAK, the country's largest solar power plant, Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP).
Monday's agreements are for a private sector-led project that is much less appreciated compared to the one signed recently between Poland and the U.S.' Westinghouse Electric Company. Poland chose the American firm over KHNP, Oct. 28 (local time), to lead the construction of its first nuclear power station.
The American firm winning the bid was influenced in part by a lawsuit it filed in the U.S. against two Korean state-run counterparts ― KHNP and Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) ― over intellectual property violations.
Westinghouse said that Korea's two state-run entities should not be able to export the APR-1400, a Korea-developed nuclear reactor that uses key Westinghouse technologies, unless it is approved by the firm and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Many said the desperate last-minute maneuvering by the American nuclear power firm was designed only to undercut Korea's bids to win nuclear power plant construction projects in Poland and the Czech Republic.
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| Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang, left, and Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State Assets Jacek Sasin shake hands after signing a memorandum of understanding at The Plaza Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of Ministry of Trade, Industry |
LOI, MOU
Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang and Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State Assets Jacek Sasin signed the MOU at The Plaza Seoul, reiterating that they will spare no efforts to support the construction of the Patnow power plant.
KHNP CEO Whang Joo-ho signed the LOI with ZE PAK Chairman Zygmunt Solorz and PGE Management Board President Wojciech Dabrowski, to advance cooperation for utilizing APR-1400 technology in the construction.
They will discuss ways to provide affordable and clean energy, thereby supporting the independence and stability of the Polish energy system.
Poland says the project should in turn bolster the competitiveness of the Polish economy and draw in new investments.
"We need sources of cheap and stable energy in Poland," Sasin said. "Nuclear energy is essential in Polish conditions, especially in the current geopolitical situation. We welcome the three-way cooperation, which will certainly be the next step in strengthening business cooperation between the two countries and a great opportunity for knowledge and experience transfer."
Korea welcomed the project, which signaled the much-awaited resumption of the country's nuclear energy exports 13 years after the UAE Barakah project in 2009.
"The project validates the excellence of the APR-1400," Lee said. The project will fortify cooperation in the industrial and economic sectors between the two countries amid global supply chain uncertainties. We will expand cooperation to include the defense industry, the manufacturing of batteries and hydrogen and electric vehicles (EVs)."
