Britain still favors S. Korea for delayed nuclear power project: official

By Lim Chang-won Posted : August 1, 2018, 15:00 Updated : August 1, 2018, 15:00

[Aju News DB]


SEOUL -- Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) will remain a strong candidate to join a nuclear power project pushed by Japan's Toshiba to build reactors in Britain, although the state utility firm lost its status as a preferred bidder, a policymaker said Wednesday.

Britain and South Korea opened negotiations in January after KEPCO, the producer of home-made reactors, was selected as a preferred bidder for the Moorside nuclear power project, but they have failed to produce a satisfactory agreement on terms such as business risks and profitability.

Toshiba wants to move quickly, but South Korean negotiators have been cautious because the Moorside project was in trouble due to the bankruptcy of Toshiba's U.S. subsidiary Westinghouse Electric.

"We will aggressively pursue negotiations between the relevant countries and institutions to ensure that the project will achieve common interests of the three countries," Moon Shin-hak in charge of nuclear power policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, citing the stabilization of electricity supply and demand in Britain, Toshiba's business stability and exports of South Korean reactors.

In June, Britain applied a new business model called "RAB (Regulated Asset Base)" to bear some business risk in case of unexpected cost overruns. As a result, KEPCO lost its status as a preferred bidder on July 25, sparking speculation that Toshiba adopted the new method to speed up and leverage negotiations.

"The status of KEPCO's preferred bidder has expired, but the nature of negotiations with Toshiba and the British government has not changed," Moon told reporters, adding the British government has decided to continue negotiations with South Korea.

South Korea has demanded a joint study with Toshiba to forecast risk and profitability. Based on the results of the study and KEPCO's internal review, the Seoul government will make a final decision.

KEPCO's home-made APR 1400 reactor was used for nuclear plants in the United Arab Emirates under a $20 billion contract in 2009. President Moon Jae-in pushed for a policy of phasing out nuclear power plants and replacing them with natural gas and renewable energy, but he promised to support exports of home-made reactors.

 
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