Korea is going to build its nuclear power plant APR 1400 in Poland. It is the first export of the Korean nuclear power plant by the President Yoon Suk-yeol government, disbanding the previous government’s policy of weaning the nation off nuclear power.
The deal comes 13 years after Korea struck a deal on its first nuclear power plant export to the United Arab Emirates.
The latest Korean nuclear power plant export serves as an opportunity for Korea to be recognized for the competitiveness of its technology in that area, and its construction capabilities in Europe, in which nuclear power is booming amidst an energy crisis. Korea is in a good position to land additional nuclear power plant orders.
Korea and Poland struck a letter of intent on a plan for the development of a nuclear power plant at the Pątnów site and an MOU between the ministries of the two countries, with Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang and Polish Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of State Assets Jacek Sasin in attendance at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul on Oct. 31.
The CEOs of the three companies, Polish private energy group ZE PAK, Polish state-owned public power company PGE and KHNP signed the letter of intent.
The project calls for building two to four nuclear units, each with a 1.4GW capacity, on the site of a coal-fired power complex, to be decommissioned next year.
The value of the project is estimated to range from at least 10 trillion won to a maximum of 30 trillion won. Construction is expected to begin before 2026.
Earlier, the Polish government selected Westinghouse of the United States as the winner of a project to build six nuclear power units each with 1 to1.6GW capacity.
Polish Ministry of State Assets, Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Polish energy companies ZE PAK and PGE, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) have announced that a letter of intent regarding the development plan of a nuclear power plant at the Pątnów site and an MOU between the ministries were concluded, it was announced in a joint news release by the Korean and Polish sides.
The main point of the letter of intent is a plan to push ahead with the development plan of a nuclear power plant in Pątnów location in Poland based on APR1400 technology, the news release said.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State Assets and Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy signed an MOU to spare no effort to provide support for the Pątnów project, promoted by the companies.
They will cooperate on nuclear energy and enhance cooperation by sharing information on a regular basis, according to the news release.
It said the intention of the parties is the assessment of the possibilities of developing cooperation on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Pątnów location in order to provide Poles with cheap and clean energy.
The project is intended to support the independence and stability of the Polish energy system - simply to be a stable source of cheap and clean energy.
Ultimately, the project should increase the competitiveness of the Polish economy, create new investment opportunities in Poland, but above all, provide Polish households with cheap and clean energy at a stable price for the next 60 years.
Potential cooperation is intended only as a supplement to the Polish government’s strategic, nuclear power program included in the "Poland’s Energy Policy until 2040".
ZE PAK and PGE opted for potential cooperation with KHNP because of safety and effective Korean nuclear reactor technology.
Currently, KHNP is the third largest nuclear power plants operator in the world and has recently successfully completed one of the world’s largest investments on time and on budget — the nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates in Barakah.
The power plant consists of 4 blocks of 1,400 MW of capacity each, which means 5,600 MW of cheap, clean and stable energy providing more than ¼ of the UAE’s electricity demand.
The parties intend to jointly prepare a plan to develop the nuclear power plant based on Korea’s APR1400 technology.
In particular, the parties intend to perform preliminary analysis of geotechnical, seismic and environmental conditions, develop an estimated budget for the preparatory work, construction phase and production phase along with the proposed project financing model, as well as create a variant project implementation schedule along with the definition of key stages affecting the potential project implementation.
The parties also intend to prepare a preliminary development plan for the nuclear power plant at the Pątnów site by the end of 2022.
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